TCA/acetone precipitation, originally developed by Damerval
et al. [8], is based on protein denaturation under acidic and/orhydrophobic conditions that help concentrate proteins and
remove contaminants. M´ echin et al. [4] recently described a
protocol in detail, from protein precipitation and denatura-tion to resolubilization in a solution for subsequent IEF. The
steps of the TCA/acetone precipitation have many modifica-tions (Table 1). For example, in its original version [8], tissue
powder and pellet were kept each time in 10% TCA/acetone
(plus 0.07% 2-ME) for 45 min at −18C; on a small scale,
the incubation time can be shortened to 5–10 min, or the
sample can be directly centrifuged [43