An Electrophoretic Survey of Various Animal Plasmas

Previous electrophoretic studies have been reported on the plasma and serum proteins of man and of various animals, often in connection with a pathology involving the blood proteins of the animal in question. However, among the animals studied, there seldom exists a strict basis of comparison, since different investigators have carried out their experiments in different buffers of varying pH and ionic strength. Moreover, various optical devices have been used to resolve the protein concentration gradients. It was the purpose of this investigation to determine the electrophoretic constituents of plasma, under identical conditions in so far as possible, of a variety of easily accessible animal species in order to ascertain differences in composition. Extensive studies of any given animal or determinations made under varying conditions were not attempted. In the species of animals examined, a complexity and variation of proteins that are both interesting and provocative of thought have been revealed.