Electrophoretic artifacts arising from the use of thiol-containing reagents
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Updated: Oct 22, 2026

Profiling Thiol Redox Proteome Using Isotope Tagging Mass Spectrometry
Published on: March 24, 2012
1Istituto di Scienze Farmacologiche, Facoltà di Farmacia, Università di Milano.
Abstract:
Thiol reagents migrate as a curtain behind the salt front when loaded with the sample solution onto disc-electrophoresis gels. In immobilized pH gradients (IPG) the same compounds are driven by electrophoresis and electroosmosis from the alkaline to the neutral and acidic regions of the gradients. In either case, a dose-dependent sideways spreading results in spurious reduction between adjacent lanes if samples with and without reducing agent are loaded side by side.
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