Agarose, low gelling temperature

Agarose is a polymer extracted from agar or agar-bearing marine algae. This purified linear galactan hydrocolloid comprises alternating co-polymers D-galactose and 3,6-anhydro-L-galactose units connected by α-(1→3) and β-(1→4) glycosidic bonds. Agarose is highly biocompatible and possesses variable mechanical and diffusion properties. Agarose can be used as a gelling agent, to separate nucleic acids electrophoretically. Low melting or low gelling temperature agarose is produced by hydroxyethylation of agarose. It is usually used for the isolation of separated DNA fragments. DNA fragments of the equal size will take longer time to move through a low melting agarose gel compared to a standard agarose gel.

Gels exhibit excellent clarity and are particularly useful for the preparation of media containing heat-labile materials. Recommended for preparation of agarose beads.
Agarose, low gelling temperature has been used:

• to immobilize zebra fish embryos during in vivo imaging experiments
• as a constituent of defined medium to culture bovine nucleus pulposus (NP) cells
• as a hydrogel, a scaffolding material for dental pulp regeneration
• in the form of pellets to determine the surface pH and conductivity of an acrylic emulsion film

A low gelling temperature derivative with unique gelling properties.

The following is a list of properties associated with our agaroses:
Sulfate content - used as an indicator of purity, since sulfate is the major ionic group present.
Gel strength - the force that must be applied to a gel to cause it to fracture.
Gel point - the temperature at which an aqueous agarose solution forms a gel as it cools. Agarose solutions exhibit hysteresis in the liquid-to-gel transition - that is, their gel point is not the same as their melting temperature.
Electroendosmosis (EEO) - a movement of liquid through the gel. Anionic groups in an agarose gel are affixed to the matrix and cannot move, but dissociable counter cations can migrate toward the cathode in the matrix, giving rise to EEO. Since electrophoretic movement of biopolymers is usually toward the anode, EEO can disrupt separations because of internal convection.