Example 8
Mass Spectrometry was used to identify the different IgG species in the purified IgG mixtures and to establish in what ratios these IgG species are present. Briefly, 2-3 μl at a 1 μM concentration in 150 mM ammonium acetate pH 7.5 of IgG's were loaded into gold-plated borosilicate capillaries made in-house (using a Sutter P-97 puller [Sutter Instruments Co., Novato, Calif., USA] and an Edwards Scancoat six sputter-coater [Edwards Laboratories, Milpitas, Calif., USA]) for analysis on a LCT 1 mass spectrometer (Waters Corp., Milford, Mass., USA), adjusted for optimal performance in high mass detection (Tahallah et al., RCM 2001). A capillary voltage of 1300 V was used and a sampling cone voltage of 200 V; however, these settings were adjusted when a higher resolution of the ‘signal-to-noise’ ratio was required. The source backing pressure was elevated in order to promote collisional cooling to approximately 7.5 mbar. To measure the IgG1's under denaturing conditions the proteins were sprayed at a 1 μM concentration in 5% formic acid.