Sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel- and replaceable polymer-filled capillary electrophoresis for molecular mass determination of proteins of pharmaceutical interest.
Performance of commercially available replaceable SDS polymer-filled capillary electrophoresis (rPGCE) systems were evaluated for the determination of the molecular mass of proteins of pharmaceutical interest. The mass values obtained by these systems were compared with those obtained by SDS-PAGE and high-performance size exclusion chromatographic (HPSEC). The molecular masses of proteins determined by rPGCE were not significantly different and agreed closely with those obtained by SDS-PAGE and with the theoretical values of the proteins. HPSEC gave the least reliable data. Performance of the SDS crosslinked polyacrylamide gel-filled capillary electrophoresis system was superior to that of the commercially available rPGCE systems. Nevertheless, the rPGCE systems present significant advantages over the conventional SDS-PAGE and HPSEC methods for rapid analysis and improved precision for the determination of the molecular masses of proteins of pharmaceutical interest.