Open AccessUse of nonfat dry milk to block nonspecific nuclear and membrane staining by avidin conjugates.
Author(s) -
Raymond C. Duhamel,
David A. Johnson
Publication year - 1985
Publication title -
journal of histochemistry and cytochemistry/the journal of histochemistry and cytochemistry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.971
H-Index - 124
eISSN - 1551-5044
pISSN - 0022-1554
DOI - 10.1177/33.7.2409130
Subject(s) - avidin , chemistry , biotinylation , staining , fluorescein , bovine serum albumin , conjugate , fluorescence , biochemistry , chromatography , microbiology and biotechnology , biophysics , biology , pathology , medicine , mathematical analysis , physics , mathematics , quantum mechanics
The use of fluorescein-avidin or rhodamine-avidin conjugates in conjunction with biotinylated secondary antibodies for indirect immunohistology frequently results in pronounced nonspecific nuclear staining in kidney sections. This nonspecific nuclear staining can be effectively blocked by using 5% (w/v) nonfat dry milk in buffered saline as the diluent for the avidin conjugates. In contrast, 5% (w/v) bovine serum albumin, a commonly used blocking agent, has only a modest effect. Nonfat dry milk is also effective as a blocking agent and carrier when used in fluorescence-activated cell sorter (FACS) analysis. These results emphasize the broad usefulness of milk-based blocking reagents.