Acta Pharm. 51 (2001) 163-171

Detection of oligoclonal IgG bands in cerebrospinal fluid on polyacrylamide support media: Comparison of isoelectric focusing and disc electrophoresis

ANGEL MITREVSKI,^1* KIRO STOJANOSKI² and  PETAR KORNETI³

¹Clinic of Neurology, Faculty of Medicine, Sts. Cyril and Methodius University, 1000 Skopje, Macedonia
²Institute of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Sts. Cyril and Methodius University, POB 162, 1000 Skopje, Macedonia
³Institute of Biochemistry, Faculty of Medicine, Sts. Cyril and Methodius University, 1000 Skopje Macedonia

Comparison of disc electrophoresis (DEP) and isoelectric focusing (IEF) for detection of oligoclonal IgG bands in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) on polyacrylamide support media was carried out. In addition, diagnostic effectivness of the IEF and DEP for oligoclonal bands (OCB) detection in CSF from multiple sclerosis (MS) patients were compared. OCB were detected by both methods in 85% patients, in 10% patients with IEF only and in 2% patients with DEP only. OCB were not detected in 3% patients with either method. The concentration of IgG and albumin was also measured in each sample and IgG index was calculated. Sensitivities of two diagnostic tests for detection of OCB were: 94.9% for IEF and 86.4% for DEP and 89.8% for IgG index. IEF and silver staining had better capability and resolution than DEP. Additional immunofixation with anti-IgG antiserum made the IEF technique superior for OCB identification. The method seems to be superior to DEP in identifying oligoclonal bands and aiding diagnosis of MS.

Keywords: disc electrophoresis, isoelectric focusing, polyacrylamide gel, cerebrospinal fluid, immunoglobulin G