title: Protein Stains to Detect Antigen on Membranes.
abstract: Western blotting (protein blotting/electroblotting) is the gold standard in the analysis of complex protein mixtures. Electroblotting drives protein molecules from a polyacrylamide (or less commonly, of an agarose) gel to the surface of a binding membrane, thereby facilitating an increased availability of the sites with affinity for both general and specific protein reagents. The analysis of these complex protein mixtures is achieved by the detection of specific protein bands on a membrane, which in turn is made possible by the visualization of protein bands either by chemical staining or by reaction with an antibody of a conjugated ligand. Chemical methods employ staining with organic dyes, metal chelates, autoradiography, fluorescent dyes, complexing with silver, or prelabeling with fluorophores. All of these methods have differing sensitivities and quantitative determinations vary significantly. This review will describe the various protein staining methods applied to membranes after western blotting. "Detection" precedes and is a prerequisite to obtaining qualitative and quantitative data on the proteins in a sample, as much as to comparing the protein composition of different samples. "Detection" is often synonymous to staining, i.e., the reversible or irreversible binding by the proteins of a colored organic or inorganic chemical.
authors.affiliation: Arthritis and Clinical Immunology Program, Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation, 825 NE 13th Street, Oklahoma City, OK, 73104, USA.
authors.forename: Anil
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Dsouza
authors.forename: R Hal
authors.initials: RH
authors.lastname: Scofield
mesh_terms: D000580:Amido Black / Q000737:chemistry; D000818:Animals; D001391:Azo Compounds / Q000737:chemistry; D015153:Blotting, Western / Q000379:methods*; D002244:Carbon / Q000737:chemistry; D004396:Coloring Agents / Q000737:chemistry*; D017979:Gold Colloid / Q000737:chemistry; D006801:Humans; D008565:Membrane Proteins / Q000032:analysis; D011506:Proteins / Q000032:analysis*; D012394:Rosaniline Dyes / Q000737:chemistry; D013194:Staining and Labeling / Q000379:methods
chemical_list: D001391:Azo Compounds; D004396:Coloring Agents; D017979:Gold Colloid; D008565:Membrane Proteins; D011506:Proteins; D012394:Rosaniline Dyes; C028433:chinese ink; D002244:Carbon; C048139:Coomassie blue; C035906:Fast Green; D000580:Amido Black; C032756:ponceau S