scholarly journals A simplified electrophoretic system for determining molecular weights of proteins

1977 ◽  
Vol 165 (3) ◽  
pp. 487-495 ◽  
Author(s):  
C Manwell

Electrophoresis of 31 different proteins in commercially prepared polyacrylamide gradient gels, Gradipore, yields a linear relationship between a hypothetical limiting pore size (the reciprocal of a limiting gel concentration, GL) and the cube root of the mol.wt., over the range 13 500-9000 000. A regression analysis of these data reveals that 98.6% of all variability in 1/GL is explained by the molecular weight, and this degree of accuracy compares favourably with existing methods for the determination of molecular weight by retardation of mobility in polyacrylamide. This new procedure has the additional advantages that molecular-weight standards can be obtained from readily available body fluids or tissue extracts by localizing enzymes and other proteins by standard histochemical methods, and that the same electrophoretic system can be used in determining molecular weights as is used in routine surveys of populations for individual and species variation in protein heterogeneity.

PEDIATRICS ◽  
1972 ◽  
Vol 50 (5) ◽  
pp. 688-692
Author(s):  
Anatole S. Dekaban ◽  
Kenton R. Holden ◽  
George Constantopoulos

Repeated fresh plasma or whole blood transfusions were given to five patients with either Hurler, Hunter, or Sanfilippo types of mucopolysaccharidosis. Clinical observations and total 24-hour urinary AMPS and their composition and molecular weight distribution were determined before, during, and after transfusions. The two patients who received plasma transfusions showed no noticeable change in the amount of AMPS excreted; of the three patients who received whole blood transfusions, two had slightly less excretion of AMPS while the third showed no difference. The AMPS in the CSF were measured in one patient before and after blood transfusions and found to be unchanged; likewise, the determination of molecular weights in the isolated AMPS was virtually identical. In the patients studied, the transfusions caused no demonstrable difference in the patients' clinical condition.


1943 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 493-508
Author(s):  
Paul J. Flory

Abstract Experimental methods for fractionating polyisobutylene and for determining osmotic pressures have been described. The ratio π/c of osmotic pressure to concentration has been found in the case of cyclohexane solutions of polyisobutylene to vary nonlinearly with concentration, contrary to recent theories advanced by Huggins and the writer. The slope of this relationship appears to be independent of molecular weight. Reliable methods for extrapolating π/c to c=0 have been established, enabling the determination of absolute molecular weights with satisfactory precision up to values of about 1,000,000. Molecular weights of polyisobutylenes calculated from Staudinger's equation are too low; the discrepancy is more than ten-fold at high molecular weights. On the basis of data for carefully fractionated samples covering a two-hundred-fold molecular weight range, the intrinsic viscosity is found to be proportional to the 0.64 power of the molecular weight. This decided deviation from Staudinger's “law”cannot in this instance be attributed to nonlinear chain structure, as Staudinger has sought to do in other cases. This dependence of molecular weight on intrinsic viscosity leads to the definition of a “viscosity average”molecular weight which is obtained when the relationship is applied to heterogeneous polymers. The viscosity average is less than the weight average molecular weight, which would be obtained if Staudinger's equation were applicable, and greater than the number average obtained by osmotic or cryoscopic methods.


1972 ◽  
Vol 71 (4) ◽  
pp. 665-676 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kristian F. Hanssen

ABSTRACT By using a double antibody radio-immunoassay (pre-precipitation technique) for the determination of immunoreactive human growth hormone (IRHGH) in normal human urine concentrated by dialysis and lyophilization, a factor was revealed that displaces 125I-HGH from HGH antibodies. This displacement was neither due to salts nor to glucose; it is suggested that it is due to IRHGH in the urine. A linear relationship between dilution of urine and the measured IRHGH concentration was obtained. Recovery of exogenous HGH was between 70–105%. The recovery of IRHGH from different volumes of urine following dialysis and lyophilization was between 97–110%. Plasma IRHGH and urinary IRHGH was measured simultaneously after HGH injection in a normal subject. A correlation was shown between plasma IRHGH and urinary IRHGH. In 9 normal subjects, the urinary IRHGH ranged from 28–53 ng/24 h. The excretion of urinary IRHGH was increased in acromegaly and was diminished in some, but not in all patients with adult hypopituitarism. The urinary IRHGH was further studied by gel filtration. It was recovered in one peak corresponding to a molecular weight of approximately 20 000 – 30 000. However, in the present work it was not clarified whether the urinary IRHGH represents pituitary HGH excreted in the urine or a metabolite of high molecular weight with retained immunological properties.


1959 ◽  
Vol 32 (2) ◽  
pp. 428-433
Author(s):  
Fred G. Hewitt ◽  
Robert L. Anthony

Abstract The fractional increase in volume accompanying the isothermal extension of soft gum rubber was measured for four rubber samples at mean extensions of 14, 33, and 51%. The chain molecular weights Mc of the four samples were 5500, 5100, 4400, and 3000, with an estimated uncertainty of about 10% in each value of Mc. The observed fractional increase in volume ranged from 3.2×10−5 to 142×10−5, the latter value being observed for the sample of lowest chain molecular weight and at the extension of 51%. The experimental results for each sample have been represented by theoretical curves based on Gee's expression for the fractional increase in volume as a function of the sample extension. The theoretical curves exhibit good agreement with those of Gee, Stern, and Treloar. The process of fitting the theoretical curves to the experimental points constituted a determination of Young's modulus E for each rubber specimen. As a check on the experimental results, and also on the theory employed, determinations of E were also made by two additional methods, namely, from rough stess-strain curves, and from the relation E=3γρRT/Mc. With one exception, the internal agreement between the three determinations of E for the four different samples was satisfactory. The exception noted can probably be ascribed to the use of too small a value of Mc for the sample of lowest chain molecular weight.


An experimental investigation of the conditions necessary for the production of compact, single polymer molecules, in a form suitable for direct observation in the electron microscope, is described. Molecules are isolated by dispersing a dilute solution of the polymer as fine droplets on to a suitable substrate: ideally each droplet should contain either one or no polymer molecules. The solution is a mixture of two solvents, a good one and a poor one. Initially the good solvent predominates so that the probability of polymer aggregation is low. Preferential evaporation of the relatively volatile solvent on the substrate itself gives the poor solvent conditions needed for the formation of well-defined molecular spheres. Factors determining the choice of solvent, precipitant, and the composition of the mixture are discussed. There is little difficulty in obtaining single molecules with glassy amorphus polymers; rubbery polymers collapse and spherical molecules are formed only if the entire preparation is carried out at a temperature below that of the glass transition; crystalline polymers are not amenable to this technique. To obtain sufficient contrast the particles have to be shadowed and it is shown that, although certain dimensions are distorted by the metal coating, the shadow length faithfully represents the true particle diameter. Molecular weights, and their distribution, when of the order of a million and above, can readily be accurately determined. Conventional methods are unreliable in this region of high molecular weight.


2004 ◽  
Vol 96 (2) ◽  
pp. 762-764 ◽  
Author(s):  
Johan Ahlqvist

The colloid or protein osmotic pressure (Π) is a function of protein molarity (linear) and of Donnan and other effects. Albumin is the major osmotic protein, but also globulins influence Π. Equations based on concentrations of albumin and nonalbumin (globulin concentration + fibrinogen concentration) protein approximate Π better than albumin alone. Globulins have a wide range of molecular weights, and a 1956 diagram indicated that Π of globulin fractions decreased in the order α1-, α2-, β-, and γ-globulin. The molecular weight of the serum protein fractions had been extrapolated, so van't Hoff's law and nonlinear regression analysis of the curves permitted expression of the diagram as an equation: [Formula: see text], where Πs,Ott,2°C,cmH2O is Π of serum at 2°C (in cmH2O) computed from the 1956 diagram, Ctot is the concentration (g/l) of total protein in serum, and xalb, xα1, xα2, xβ, and xγ are the fractions of albumin, α1-, α2-, β-, and γ-globulin, respectively. At one and the same concentration of fractions, Π“Ott” decreases in the order α1-globulin, albumin, α2-globulin, β-globulin, and γ-globulin.


Author(s):  
Margity M.M. ◽  
Marzhokhova M.Y. ◽  
Hadzegova S.B.

Endogenous intoxication syndrome is an important link in the pathogenesis of many infectious diseases. The role of low and medium molecular weight substances and oligopeptides acting as indicators of endogenous intoxication syndrome in the pathogenesis of varicella was studied, depending on the period of the disease, the severity of the course and the presence of complications. Based on this goal, 125 patients with varicella aged 18 to 49 years were examined. Determination of the content of substances of low and medium molecular weight in biological body fluids (blood plasma, red blood cells and urine) was carried out by the method of M. Ya.Malakhova (1995) on a spectrophotometer SF-46. The Lowru (1951) method was used to determine the level of oligopeptides in body fluids. The maximum level of substances of low and medium molecular weight was observed in patients with a complicated course of varicella during the height of the disease, as well as in patients with a severe course of the disease during the height. When determining the oligopeptides, the highest values were also obtained at the height of the disease in the severe course, as well as in the complicated course at admission. During the examination, the dependence of the studied indicators on the period of the disease, the severity, as well as the presence of complications was revealed. Thus, the most pronounced changes in the level of low and medium molecular weight substances and oligopeptides were observed in severe, and the least – in the mild course of varicella in all the studied media. In patients with developed complications, the disease was more severe, while the changes in the studied parameters were more pronounced.


1968 ◽  
Vol 41 (1) ◽  
pp. 245-253 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Rempp ◽  
Henri Benoit

Abstract From this brief review it appears that determinations of molecular weight averages, of molecular weight distributions, and of compositional inhomogeneity of binary copolymers, require care in the choice of techniques and methods. Some of the most commonly used techniques for molecular weight determinations on homopolymers of various kinds are inadequate for the same determinations on copolymers. Others are more sensitive to fluctuations in composition than in molecular weights. Osmotic methods are the only one which are really insensitive to inhomogeneity, and which yield molecular weights. Ultracentrifugation in a density gradient yields precise information only on fluctuations in composition. Viscosity determinations require calibration, but even so, they may lead to erroneous values of the molecular weight in the case of copolymers. GPC is less sensitive to compositional heterogeneity, but cannot be applied for nonlinear copolymers. Finally, light scattering is a very powerful tool for studies on copolymers, since it leads to molecular weight averages and its helps characterize polydispersity and fluctuations in composition.


1949 ◽  
Vol 27b (3) ◽  
pp. 151-157 ◽  
Author(s):  
I. E. Puddington

A method is proposed for the determination of the molecular weight of chemical compounds in which the unknown substance may be used successfully m quantities of 1 mgm. or less. The method depends on the accurate measurement of the difference in vapor pressure between a solution of the unknown compound and the pure solvent, and this is accomplished with a modified mercury U-tube manometer. The results presented indicate that the difference between the experimental and theoretical molecular weights is of the order of 2%. Determinations require from two to three hours and the sample may be recovered.


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