Modeling the migration behavior of rabbit liver apothioneins in capillary electrophoresis

Metallothioneins (MTs) are a group of low-molecular-mass proteins (6-7 kDa) characterized by their great affinity for heavy metal ions. At acidic pH, the bound metal ions are released from the amino acidic structure and MTs lead to apothioneins. In this study, a general equation is used to model the electrophoretic mobility of rabbit liver apothioneins as a function of the pH of the separation electrolyte. The ability of these relationships to explain the migration behavior of these relatively complex polyprotic proteins in the pH range between 2 and 6 has been investigated. Their relevant ionization constant values in the studied pH range were estimated and employed for molecular charge calculations. The classical semiempirical relationships between electrophoretic mobility and charge-to-mass ratio (me vs. q/Malpha) were tested for prediction of their electrophoretic separations. The accuracy of the separations predicted at acidic pH was confirmed by CE-ESI-MS.