title: Boundary analysis in sedimentation transport experiments: a procedure for obtaining sedimentation coefficient distributions using the time derivative of the concentration profile.
abstract: A procedure is described for computing sedimentation coefficient distributions from the time derivative of the sedimentation velocity concentration profile. Use of the time derivative, (delta c/delta t)r, instead of the radial derivative, (delta c/delta r)t, is desirable because it is independent of time-invariant contributions to the optical baseline. Slowly varying baseline changes also are significantly reduced. An apparent sedimentation coefficient distribution (i.e., uncorrected for the effects of diffusion), g*(s), can be calculated from (delta c/delta t)r as [formula: see text] where s is the sedimentation coefficient, omega is the angular velocity of the rotor, c0 is the initial concentration, r is the radius, rm is the radius of the meniscus, and t is time. An iterative procedure is presented for computing g*(s)t by taking into account the contribution to (delta c/delta t)r from the plateau region to give (delta c/delta t)corr. Values of g*(s)t obtained this way are identical to those of g*(s) calculated from the radial derivative to within the roundoff error of the computations. Use of (delta c/delta t)r, instead of (delta c/delta r)t, results in a significant increase (greater than 10-fold) in the signal-to-noise ratio of data obtained from both the uv photoelectric scanner and Rayleigh optical systems of the analytical ultracentrifuge. The use of (delta c/delta t)r to compute apparent sedimentation coefficient distributions for purposes of boundary analysis is exemplified with an antigen-antibody system.
authors.affiliation: Department of Muscle Research, Boston Biomedical Research Institute, Massachusetts 02114.
authors.forename: W F
authors.initials: WF
authors.lastname: Stafford
mesh_terms: D000937:Antigen-Antibody Reactions; D002499:Centrifugation, Density Gradient / Q000379:methods*; D004166:Diphtheria Antitoxin / Q000737:chemistry / Q000276:immunology; D004167:Diphtheria Toxin / Q000737:chemistry / Q000276:immunology; D007074:Immunoglobulin G / Q000737:chemistry / Q000276:immunology; D008433:Mathematics; D013056:Spectrophotometry, Ultraviolet
chemical_list: D004166:Diphtheria Antitoxin; D004167:Diphtheria Toxin; D007074:Immunoglobulin G