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Chambers designed to perform the migration and separation of mixtures of ionic solutes by applying an electric field (electrophoresis). These chambers typically consist of a nonconducting material (e.g., glass, acrylic) that includes two separate buffer tanks; a supporting medium for electrophoresis (e.g., agarose gel, cellulose acetate) placed across the two tanks, so that one end of the membrane contacts the buffer on each side of the chamber; and an electrode (e.g., platinum, graphite) in each tank connected to a power supply. A sample is applied to the support, and electrophoresis is conducted for a determined length of time, typically using constant voltage, current, or power. Some electrophoresis chambers include a power supply as an integral part. Systems including electrophoresis chambers and power supplies and those that may also include other devices such as densitometers, temperature controllers, and/or computerized data processors are frequently used for the separation of many solutes of interest in clinical chemistry, including proteins in serum, plasma, urine, and cerebrospinal fluid.
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