Fabric-reinforced ultrathin polyacrylamide gels for sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and isoelectric focusing

The suitability of four different fabric materials for the preparation of ultrathin rein-forced polyacrylamide gels was investigated. With all fabric-reinforced gels, a good separation of proteins by isoelectric focusing and sodium dodecyl sulfate-electrophoresis could be achieved. Semi-dry electrophoretic blotting of proteins was possible with all types of fabric-reinforced gels. Two polyester fabrics (a net and a fleece) were decidedly superior in handling and dimensional stability on drying to a nylon fabric and another polyester fleece material. Only gels prepared with the former materials withstood further treatment, such as fixation, staining, destaining, and drying. One of the polyester fleece fabrics had poor handling properties and the nylon fabric was unsuitable for direct staining procedures employing concentrated (20% w/v) trichloroacetic acid as fixative.