Gel electrophoresis for studying biological function Review Article

Recent advances in studying the function of muscle, liver, and breast tissues by protein analysis using polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis are described. New developments in sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) and two-dimensional gel electrophoresis (2DE) techniques are presented first, including staining, immunodetection, and other basic methods. In the tissue analysis, the muscle section is divided into three parts, skeletal, cardiac and smooth. Within each section, proteins that recently contributed to the understanding of muscle activity are represented. The gel electrophoresis of these proteins is discussed in relation to the functional, morphological, or developmental characteristics of the muscle. The human muscular diseases are also considered. The discussion of liver and breast protein analysis by gel electrophoresis focuses on the use of 2DE to detect quantitative changes in proteins characteristic of these two tissues. Quantitative changes related to specific chemical exposures are of interest in liver tissue whereas quantitative differences in breast cell proteins have been analyzed in the context of cancer research. The review ends with a discussion of the future prospects for gel electrophoresis.