Quantities and units for electrophoresis in the clinical laboratory

Electrophoretic techniques have been developed and refined over decades, and are now widely used in clinical laboratories. For example, electrophoresis is routinely used to separate many different components, including proteins, lipoproteins, and isoenzymes. More recently, the applications of molecular biology in diagnosis have increased the use of electrophoresis to separate DNA components in the clinical laboratory. Various kinds of quantities are used for the description of separation procedures. It is the purpose of this document to provide manufacturers and users of electrophoretic techniques with a list of relevant quantities and units consistent with the International System of Units (SI) and standards of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO).