title: The immunogold-silver staining procedure in the study of freshly suspended Langerhans cells at the transmission electron microscopic level.
abstract: The potential of an immunogold-silver staining for the study of human suspended Langerhans cells at the transmission electron microscopic level was evaluated. Cells were labeled, by using a preembedding technique, with 5-nm colloidal gold particles followed by silver enhancement. The use of small colloidal gold particles permits a detection of small quantities of antigen; the metallic silver deposition around gold granules gives rise to a large electron-dense marker which can be easily detected even at low magnification. Ultrastructural details were well preserved, and the background was not significant. The major advantage of the present immunogold-silver staining is that it enables to detect labeled cells easily, even when limited amounts of antigenic moieties are present on a low percentage of cells. Therefore, a rapid and simultaneous evaluation of both immunophenotype and ultrastructural details of investigated cells is allowed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, University of Parma, Italy.
authors.forename: G C
authors.initials: GC
authors.lastname: Manara
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Ferrari
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Torresani
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: De Panfilis
mesh_terms: D015703:Antigens, CD / Q000032:analysis; D006046:Gold; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry / Q000379:methods; D007801:Langerhans Cells / Q000276:immunology / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D016253:Microscopy, Immunoelectron / Q000379:methods*; D012834:Silver; D013194:Staining and Labeling / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D015703:Antigens, CD; D012834:Silver; D006046:Gold