MS analysis of biologically active substances 'requires depletion of abundant proteins'

Analysing biologically active substances to determine the factors that play a role in wound healing requires more abundant proteins to be depleted in the tissue sample, suggest researchers.

In an article published in BMC Research Notes, a journal specialising in updated findings and data sets, scientists at Ruhr-University Bochum in Germany explain that depleting the most abundant proteins is "inevitable".

This is because they would otherwise mask the lesser abundant proteins in mass spectrometric analysis, preventing the biologically active substances from being investigated.

Using a commercially available kit for immunodepletion of abundant proteins, the team were able to raise relative levels of the less apparent genetic sequences by five or six times.

This allows fluids obtained from healing wounds to be investigated in order to decide whether chronic illnesses - like diabetes - might hamper the recovery process.

According to the scientists, the use of the immunodepletion kit represents "a first but important step" in this analysis process.