Comparison of methods for sample preparation of individual rat cerebrospinal fluid samples prior to two-dimensional polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis.

Different pre-treatment methods have been compared for two-dimensional mapping of individual rat cerebrospinal fluid samples based on acetone, trichloroacetic acid/acetone and methanol/acetone precipitation of proteins. Acetone precipitation following incubation with DTT gave the highest protein recovery (72%) and the largest number of protein spots (92 +/- 4) as well as minimizing the time taken.