ISSN:
0173-0835
Keywords:
Chemistry
;
Biochemistry and Biotechnology
Source:
Wiley InterScience Backfile Collection 1832-2000
Topics:
Biology
,
Chemistry and Pharmacology
Notes:
A free fluid zone electrophoresis experiment was performed in the microgravity environment of Space Shuttle flight STS-3 (March 1983). The experiment was designed to confirm observations made on the Apollo-Soyuz mission of 1975 and to test the effect of high red blood cell (RBC) concentration on free fluid electrophoresis. Photographic documentation of cell zone progression in one-hour separations of mixtures of formaldehyde-fixed human and rabbit erythrocytes (RBC), which were subjected to a field of approximately 13 V cm-1 in low ionic strength buffer, was analyzed. One of two columns contained 2 × 108 RBC ml-1 (low concentration), and the other contained 1 × 109 RBC ml-1 (high concentration). The observed and calculated leading edge displacements of the RBC in the two columns were in agreement, indicating the absence of unexpected effects of the reduced gravity environment. Post-flight analyses of the contents of the columns was not possible, and additional microgravity experiments are needed to evaluate the role of particle-particle interactions in concentrated suspensions undergoing electrophoresis.
Additional Material:
3 Ill.
Type of Medium:
Electronic Resource
URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/elps.1150060103
