One-step capillary isoelectric focusing of the proteins in cerebrospinal fluid and serum of patients with neurological disorders.

One-step capillary isoelectric focusing (cIEF), which uses reduced but non-zero electroosmosis flow to mobilize the focused proteins, was applied to the analysis of proteins in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and serum of patients with various neurological disorders. Under the conditions employed, pathological changes in the CSF proteins were clearly detected on the electropherograms within 25 min, although the serum proteins did not vary significantly between samples. The present one-step cIEF system seems to be useful in routine laboratory examinations of a large number of CSF samples as an aid in neurological diagnosis.