Capillary zone electrophoresis (CZE) with a non-gel-sieving system was employed to characterize actinomycin D-induced cell apoptosis by measuring cellular DNA damage, termed DNA ladder, which proved to be thoroughly different from the DNA damage pattern of cell necrosis. The results by CZE analyses were identical to those obtained by conventional slab gel electrophoresis, demonstrating that CZE would be a reliable and more convenient technique for the identification of cell death with advantages of higher performance, high-speed, minute sample requirement, and advanced automation.
Copyright 2001 Academic Press.