Enhancement of polyacrylamide gel slice dissolution in hydrogen peroxide by cupric sulfate

An improved method is described for quantitation of radio-labelled protein by scintillation counting after polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. The method is based upon copper catalyzed dissolution of gel slices in hydrogen peroxide under ambient conditions. Complete dissolution of gel sections was accomplished by incubation at 25 degrees C in 30% H2O2 that contained 0.9 mM CuSO4. Recovery of tritiated protein was greater than 90% under these conditions while in the absence of CuSO4 recovery was less than 50%.