Low voltage isoelectric focusing for the study of red cell acid phosphatase polymorphism: improved phenotyping and better agreement with the Hardy Weinberg distribution.

A low voltage isoelectric focusing (IEF) method for typing human red cell acid phosphatase (ACPl) polymorphism is reported. A clear differentiation of the ACPl*A, ACPl*B and ACPl*C allelic products is obtained by minimizing diffusion of the bands during electrophoresis and during enzyme visualization by using a hydrophilic cellophane film soaked with the substrate solution, heated to 50 degrees C, and by reading without incubation in a moist chamber. A population study of ACPl, carried out with this method, on a sample of 624 unrelated individuals of the population of Rome (gene frequencies: ACPl*A = 0.267; ACPl*B = 0.680; ACPl*C = 0.053), showed a good agreement between the observed and expected phenotype distribution (chi 2/2 = 1.35; 0.70 greater than p greater than 0.50).