2010 Volume 54 Issue 1 Pages 7-11
Optical densitometer is widely used for electrophoretic pattern analysis on serum proteins, isoenzymes and lipoproteins separated by electrophoresis with cellulose acetate membrane or polyacrylamide gel-support.
In this report, we evaluated an electrophoretic pattern analysis system of “Fingerprinter” (Jokoh Co., Ltd.) based on its image processing technology on the digital image captured by CCD camera (CCD method).
In the first place, to establish the compatibility between the optical density and the pixel values measured by densitometry and CCD camera, respectively, we obtained a conversion formula between those values. Then, the CCD method was compared with the optical densitometry in the measurement of serum protein fractions, of urine samples and alkaline phosphatase isozyme in serum samples.
The CCD method exhibited good correlation (r=>0.95) with the densitometry and similar reproducibility to the results of the densitometry. Furthermore, by overlaying separation patterns on the display of a PC, the CCD method allowed us to check easily the protein fractionation and the ALP isozyme analysis.
These results demonstrate the practical utility of the CCD method using “Fingerprinter” in the data processing of clinical laboratory tests. This CCD method should facilitate the management of patient information including electrophoresis charts.
