Polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis
Polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE) is a widely used technique for separating biological macromolecules, usually proteins and nucleic acids, by applying an electric current to a liquid (running buffer). This causes the negatively charged macromolecules to move within a gel towards the positively charged anode. This separation occurs because of electrophoretic mobility and is a function of the length, conformation and charge of the molecule.
SDS-PAGE is a common PAGE and is used for separating proteins after standardizing their charge and conformation to separate them solely on their molecular weight.
To achieve this separation, PAGE relies on gel density, gel pH and a combination of running buffer and current interacting between two types of gel, stacking and separating gel.