ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the results obtained during utilization of this method for the investigation of electrophoretic heterogeneity of cell populations. It adduces data on the electrophoretic properties of cell fractions isolated by the sedimentation method. The most suitable methods for the preliminary fractionation are sedimentation techniques. With their help cells can be fractionated either in concordance with their size (velocity sedimentation) or according to cell density (equilibrium density sedimentation). A combined method of preparative electrophoresis and sedimentation fractioning was used for studying lymphocyte heterogeneity. The thymus cell population consists of prethymocytes (subpopulations of dividing and maturing cortical forms), medular thymocytes, and mature lymphocytes. The chapter concludes that the simultaneous measurement of cell electrophoretic mobility and sedimentation velocity (SV) in heterogeneous cell systems may be helpful for studying the connections between cell electrokinetic properties and those properties correlating with their SV.
