Determination of placental alkaline phosphatase phenotypes by starch-gel and acrylamide gel electrophoresis.

The polymorphism of placental alkaline phosphatase (ALP) is usually studied by butanol extraction followed by starch gel electrophoretic separation at two different pH's, 8.6 and 6.0. Acrylamide gel electrophoresis (7.5%) in the presence of Triton X-100 is shown to be preferable in speed, reliability and reproducibility of results. All the placental ALP phenotypes detected had the same molecular mass by gradient acrylamide electrophoresis. The enzyme butanol extract is not sufficiently pure to enable the different placental ALP's to be distinguished by isoelectric focusing on polyacrylamide gels.