Polyacrylamide-gel disc-electrophoresis as a screening procedure for serum lipoprotein abnormalities.

A polyacrylamide-gel disc-electrophoresis system is described that is suitable for screening sera with a wide range of lipid concentrations, and the results agree with analytical ultracentrifugation data. The Iipoprotein pattern so obtained was compared with that obtained by other recognized electrophoretic procedures. Lipoprotein determinations were done by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, for 125 patients, to determine its merit as a clinical screening method for lipoprotein abnormalities as compared to the paper-electrophoretic method. The lipid dye and riboflavin concentration of the gels used give a background that makes it easy to detect chylomicra in the sample gel and allows for densitometric semiquantitation of the lipoprotein fractions. The method is reliable, precise, and accurate.