Effect of linear polymer additives on the electroosmotic characteristics of agarose gels in ultrathin-layer electrophoresis.

Electroosmotic properties of agarose gels with low, medium, high and super high electroendosmosis (EEO) were evaluated based on the apparent electric field mediated mobility of a neutral, fluorescent marker under constant field strength using ultrathin-layer separation configuration. Electroosmotic flow mobility values were measured in different gel concentrations and also in the absence and the presence of various linear polymer additives. Under ultrathin-layer separation conditions, a slight decrease in electroosmotic flow mobility was observed with increasing agarose gel concentration of 1 to 3% for all agarose gels investigated. When linear polymer additives, such as linear polyacrylamide, hydroxyethyl cellulose or polyethylene oxide were added to 1% low electroendosmosis agarose gel, significant reduction of the electroosmotic flow properties were observed with increasing additive concentration. Effect of the intrinsic electroosmotic properties of the various electroendosmosis agaroses on the apparent mobilities and separation performance of double-stranded DNA fragments during automated ultrathin-layer agarose gel electrophoresis was also investigated.