Electrophoresis

2 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  electrophoresis \electrophoresis\ n.
     1. (Chem.) the motion of charged molecules or particles in a
        liquid medium under the influence of an electric field;
        particles with a positive charge move toward the cathode
        and negative to the anode. [WordNet sense 1]
  


     Syn: cataphoresis.
          [WordNet 1.5]
  
     2. (Chem., Biochem.) the application of the principle of
        electrophoresis to separate molecules, used as an
        analytical or preparative technique; as, separation by
        electrophoresis; gel electrophoresis.
        [PJC]
  
     Note:
  
     {Gel electrophoresis} is a technique in which the molecules
        to be separated are moved through a gelatinous medium
        under the influence of an electric field. At the
        completion of a period of electrophoresis, the gel, unlike
        a liquid solution, may be manipulated as a single object,
        permitting the substances contained within to be detected
        or visualized by a variety of methods, and their relative
        mobilities determined. It is therefore a popular analytic
        tool in biochemistry, and has many variants. Popular
        substances used to create the gel are starch,
        polyacrylamide, and agarose. Since a polyacrylamide gel
        can be created with different concentrations and different
        degrees of cross-linking, the pore size of the gel can be
        controlled to provide special properties appropriate to
        separation of specific molecules, as for example
        optimizaion for separation within a particular molecular
        weight range. in SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis,
        SDS ({sodium dodecyl sulfate}, a detergent) is included;
        it binds to and denatures protein molecules, allowing them
        to be separated on the basis of their molecular weight
        alone. It is thus used as one method of determining the
        molecular weights of isolated protein chains.
        [PJC]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  electrophoresis
       n : the motion of charged particles in a colloid under the
           influence of an electric field; particles with a positive
           charge go to the cathode and negative to the anode [syn:
           {cataphoresis}, {dielectrolysis}, {ionophoresis}]