Separation of the two high molecular weight spectrin bands by a newly designed preparative slab electrophoresis technique.

Constructions and operation of an inexpensive preparative slab gel electrophoresis apparatus is described. A slab is made from two wide glass plates with symmetrical windows cut out from both sides. Coating the plates with a silane reagent allows good adhesion of a low concentration acrylamide sodium dodecyl sulfate gel. The migration of extracted chromatographed and fluorescent spectrin mixture is monitored with a uv light. At the end of the run, the slab is turned upside down and the material cluted upward in the small space formed by a dialyzing membrane placed in between the slab and the upper buffer reservoir. Using this apparatus and technique, the two heavy molecular weight spectrin bands can be purified. Advantages of this new system are discussed.