A metrological study of autoradiographs from two-dimensional gel electrophoresis

Samples prepared from a single batch of labeled cells were subjected to two-dimensional gel electrophoresis and autoradiography. Three factors were varied: total quantity of protein, quantity of labeled protein, and exposure time. The mean background absorbance of the film remained identical (about 0.5 A) for all the treated series, whatever the exposure time and whether or not there were unlabeled proteins in the sample. Hence any spot with a peak A of the same order of magnitude can be seen. The standard deviation was about 0.05 A. Thus, the measurement precision is 2.5% of full scale for digitalization over 0 to 2 A. We derived experimental calibration curves, which are neither linear nor logarithmic because of the film response and which can be used on randomly chosen spots.