Use of voltage gradient gel electrophoresis in apoptotic DNA analysis

In this paper the use of voltage gradient gel electrophoresis (VGGE) in the electrophoretic analysis of apoptotic DNAs is described. The peculiarity of VGGE fractionation in enhancing DNA bands in the gel by reducing their thickness was used to obtain a rapid, more selective and higher-quality electrophoretic fractionation of apoptotic DNA with respect to conventional electrophoresis. The use of VGGE fractionations also allowed a reduced amount of DNA to be used to detect a characteristic apoptotic DNA ladder pattern, in a lower agarose gel concentration, with respect to conventional electrophoretic fractionation (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V All rights reserved.