Two-Dimensional Polyacrylamide Gel Electrophoresis for Cardiovascular Proteomics

The majority of cardiovascular proteomic investigations reported to date have employed two-dimensional gel electrophoresis (2DE) with immobilized pH gradients to separate the sample proteins, combined with quantitative computer analysis to detect differentially expressed proteins and mass spectrometry technologies to identify proteins of interest. In spite of the development of novel gel-free technologies, 2DE remains the only technique that routinely can be applied to parallel quantitative expression profiling of large sets of complex protein mixtures, such as those represented by cardiovascular cell and tissue lysates. This chapter details a procedure for large-format 2DE, and its variations, that has been successfully applied in cardiovascular proteomic research.