A simple drying solution that minimizes cracking during air-drying of polyacrylamide gels.

Sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis is a routine technique used in biochemistry. Air-drying is an economical method of gel preservation that does not require expensive equipment. Our laboratory uses drying frames from RPI, which recommends a drying solution of 20% ethanol and 10% glycerol. The solution performs well for gels up to 10% acrylamide and 0.75 mm thickness; however, crack formation may occur if nicks or bubbles are present. The literature shows various drying methods and combinations of alcohol (30-100%) and glycerol (5-35%), but still reports cracking problems. Tests were conducted to independently evaluate the effects of ethanol and glycerol concentration on gel cracking. Here we introduce a simple solution that does not require glycerol or modified frames to generate preserved, crack-free sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis gels.

A simple method of drying polyacrylamide slab gels that eliminates cracking.

The polyacrylamide slab gel is the most common gel format for analyzing protein samples by electrophoresis. Drying these gels is useful in many biological applications; for example, autoradiography, in which radiolabeled proteins are separated to enable their detection and identification. Dried protein gels can also serve as an ideal method of preserving the gel itself for permanent record-keeping and allowing densitometry at a convenient time. Here I describe a simple and highly reproducible gel-drying method that results in dried gels without the cracks that are frequently encountered with many existing gel-drying methods.