ELICITING MACROPOROSITY IN POLYACRYLAMIDE AND AGAROSE GELS WITH POLYETHYLENE-GLYCOL

Preparation of highly porous polyacrylamide has recently been describe d (Righetti et al., Electrophoresis, 1992, 13, 587-595). In this repor t we add new observations on the conditions of promoting macroporosity in polyacrylamide gels and extend the possibility of eliciting this p henomenon to agarose matrices by the combined use of polyethylene glyc ol and glycerol. The process of cluster formation in hot agarose solut ions was studied and gel structures were examined by scanning electron microscopy. A definition of macroporosity in gel, related to controll ed microsyneresis during gelation, is tentatively proposed. The unexpe cted influence of acrylamide and agarose concentrations upon the size of macroporous structures in the corresponding gels is revealed.