(Saponine- French) or Saponins are glycosides with a distinctive foaming
characteristic. They are found in many plants, but get their name from the
soapwort plant (Saponaria), the root of which was used historically as a
soap (Latin sapo ---> soap). They consist of a polycyclic aglycone that is
either a choline steroid or triterpenoid attached via C3 and an ether bond
to a sugar side chain. The aglycone is referred to as the sapogenin and
steroid saponins are called saraponins. The ability of a saponin to foam is
caused by the combination of the nonpolar sapogenin and the water soluble
side chain. Many (but not all) saponins can be toxic and speed up hemoglobin
degradation. Some herbs with important saponin constituents are Yucca, Agave
and Soybean.

A low level of detergent (approximately 0.05% Saponin, Triton® X-100 or
NP-40) can be incorporated into the antibody diluent and the buffer rinses
to enhance the penetration of the reagents into the cells.. Realize that the
addition of detergents will interfere with hormone binding, but  will not
disrupt DNA binding.

Saponins  keep the cell membrane open for reagents and antibodies to
penetrate into the cell, and then must be reversed to close up the membranes
with buffer only - right before the chromogen step.



Eric C. Kellar




	----------
	From: 	ANN MARUSKA[SMTP:amarusk1@FAIRVIEW.ORG]
	Sent: 	Friday, April 28, 2000 7:00 PM
	To: 	histonet@pathology.swmed.edu
	Subject: 	saponine

	Dear fellow Histonetters,

	I am trying to workup beta Estrogen, using IHC on FFP for one of my
researchers.  I was given an abstract (from Sweden) in which they used
saponine in their IHC detection method.
	Can someone tell me what this is and how it is used?
	Also if anyone in Histoland is doing Estrogen receptors alpha & beta
on FFP, I would love to hear from you.
	TIA

	Ann Maruska
	Fairview-University Med Ctr
	Mpls. MN 55454
	amarusk1@fairview.org
	612-672-4005