Capillary electrophoresis as a clinical tool for the analysis of protein in serum and other body fluids.

Most electrophoretic analyses of proteins in the clinical laboratory are currently carried out by electrophoresis in acrylamide or agarose gels. This labor-intensive method is now being challenged by capillary electrophoresis (CE) because of its potential for automated, rapid, high efficiency separations. The automatability of CE itself, combined with its amenability to interfacing with other robotized functions, positions this technology perfectly for the analysis of proteins in physiological matrices, such as serum, urine, and cerebrospinal fluid. The focus of this overview is to familiarize the clinical scientist with the research demonstrating the applicability of the technology to the clinical protein laboratory.