Separation of human apolipoproteins A-IV, A-I and E by reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography on a TSK Phenyl-5PW column.

A method has been developed for the rapid separation of the medium-molecular-weight apolipoproteins A-IV, A-I and E by high-performance liquid chromatography. Separations were achieved using a commercially available column of very low hydrophobicity (TSK Phenyl-5PW) in the reversed-phase mode rather than the conventional mode of hydrophobic interaction. Delipidated apolipoproteins were dissolved in 20 mM orthophosphoric acid (pH 2.3), applied to the column which was pre-equilibrated with the same buffer, and eluted with an increasing gradient of acetonitrile. Purified apolipoproteins were identified by a combination of sodium dodecyl sulphate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, amino acid analysis and N-terminal sequence analysis. In one step the method can be used to separate the major human chylomicron apolipoproteins A-IV, A-I and E, following preliminary removal of apolipoprotein A-II and the C apolipoproteins by size-exclusion chromatography.