Immunoelectrophoresis antigen-antibody analysis

In immunoelectrophoresis two sequential procedures are applied to the analysis of complex protein mixtures (1) separation of the protein mixture by agarose gel electrophoresis, followed by (2) interaction with specific antibodies to examine the antigenic properties of the separated proteins. 

Immunoelectrophoresis is a specific method characterized by the presence of polyclonal monospecific antibodies against a specific protein in the agarose gel. The running buffer used in this method should have a pH corresponding to the isoelectric point of the antibody. The fixation of the latter in the gel leads to the formation of a precipitate comprised of the antigen and the specific antibody, which may be visualized by using a Coomassie blue stain or some other suitable technique (Westermeier and Scheibe, 2009). Immunoelectrophoresis has been used for the qualitative and quantitative analysis of individual proteins in complex mixture (Hansen and Larsen, 2008). 

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