Characterization of bovine collagens using capillary electrophoresis — an alternative to slab gel electrophoresis

A capillary electrophoresis method was developed and characterized for analyzing the spectrum of collagen subspecies in collagen preparations. The Bio-Rad CE-SDS protein kit was used for the dynamic sieving separation of collagen subspecies in this CE method (DSCE). The optimized method utilized a 36 cm (or 24 cm) x 50 microm uncoated capillary, electrophoretic injection at 10 kV for 10 s, a run voltage of 15 kV, a capillary temperature of 20 degrees C, and UV detection at 220 nm. A preliminary validation of the method was performed. The assay had good repeatability (RSDs for peaks were 15%), and responses were linear for assay solutions with collagen concentrations from 0.125 to 1.25 mg/ml. The DSCE electropherogram of bovine skin collagen provided a profile of subspecies similar in number and relative abundance to that generated by scanning of Coomassie-stained SDS-PAGE gels.