Quantitation of specific proteins in polyacrylamide gels by the elution of Fast Green FCF

The quantitation of proteins in polyacrylamide gels stained with Fast green FCF has been investigated using a modification of the elution technique originally described by Fenner et al. (Fenner, C., Traut, R.R., Mason, D.T. and Wikman-Coffelt, J. (1975) Anal. Biochem. 63, 595--602) for Coomassie Blue and adapted by Medugorac (Medugorac, I. (1979) Basic Res. Cardiol. 74, 406--416) for use with proteins stained with Fast Green FCF. The elution of dye from stained protein was accomplished using 1.0 M NaOH instead of aqueous pyridine as required by the original method. The primary advantages of our modification are that the time required for protein quantitation has been considerably reduced and the use of toxic organic solvents has been eliminated. We have investigated the applicability of the method of several different proteins and our results indicate: (a) The quantity of Fast Green FCF eluted from specific proteins is proportional to the quantity of protein applied to the gel, but varies for each individual protein. (b) The method allows quantitation over a very wide range of protein (1--800 micrograms). (c) Quantitation of protein is independent of the width of the stained bands as well as acrylamide concentration. (d) The method is applicable to gels of many types including disc, slab and continuous gradient gels. (e) Protein can be estimated from the patterns obtained by two-dimensional polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. (f) The presence of Triton X-100 in gel and protein sample does not affect quantitation; the method is applicable to gels containing SDS provided that SDS is removed prior to staining. (g) Precipitation of protein with 12.5% TCA following electrophoresis does not interfere with quantitation. (h) The reproducibility of the technique is excellent, with standard deviations being less than 10% of the mean in all cases. This method appears highly versatile but requires appropriate standards for the quantitation of individual proteins.