Improved separation of rabbit liver metallothioneins by FPLC-ICP-MS: a comparison with the conventional anion-exchange chromatography

Abstract

The analytical performance of the Fast - Protein Liquid Chromatography (FPLC) (on a Mono Q HR 5/5 column) and the conventional AnionExchange Chromatography (on a Protein Pak DEAE 5PW column) to realise rabbit liver metallothioneins separations and Cd speciation has been investigated and the results are compared. The Mono Q column was found to provide higher resolution and reproducibility in shorter separation times than Protein Pak DEAE 5PW, a conventional anion-exchange column. Thus, FPLC is proposed as a very useful tool for the study of the polymorphism of metallothioneins.