Methodological Challenges of Protein Analysis in Blood Serum and Cerebrospinal Fluid by Capillary Electrophoresis

Summary High-performance capillary electrophoresis (HPCE or CE) is an ultrasensitive analytical technique with high resolving power and a wide area of applications including peptide/protein analysis. Its applicability is greatly enhanced by the short separation times, the ease of method development and the minimum sample and organic solvent requirements. Various HPCE modes have been developed for peptide/protein analysis, including capillary zone electrophoresis, micellar elektrokinetic capillary chromatography, capillary isoelectric focusing, isotachophoresis, capillary gel electrophoresis and microemulsion elektrokinetic chromatography. HPCE can easily be applied to quality control of manufacturing processes or to clinical routine for diagnostic purposes due to its potential to provide information on the identity, the purity of the samples and the quantities of the constituents. Furthermore, interactions of a peptide or a protein with other molecules can be studied by HPCE. The separation principles of the various operation modes applied to peptide/protein analysis are presented in this article. Furthermore, in order to exemplify the application of the separation principles in the area of serum protein analysis, which is of importance in clinical practice, the capillary electrophoretic methods developed for analysis of serum and cerebrospinal fluid proteins are also reviewed.Presented at: International Symposium on Separation and Characterization of Natural and Synthetic Macromolecules, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, February 5–7, 2003