"Patterson, Noelle (NIDDK)" wrote:

> Hi.
>  Do people notice a high background staining when using rabbit-derived
> antibodies and/or rabbit polyclonal serum?  If so, what do you do about it?
>
> Noelle Patterson
> Biologist
> NIDDK/Navy-TAB
> Bethesda, MD   20889-5603

YES!  We get terrible background when we use rabbit antibodies, we avoid them,
if at all possible.  My best advise would be to try blocking with several
different things (BSA, serum, commercially available blocking agents) and play
with the concentrations of your blocking agents (such as increasing serum
concentration, etc.).  Also you may want to try a combination of serums in the
block (this is very useful when staining animal tissues).  Pick the blocking
reagent that gives you the least amount of background.

Kim Merriam
TKT
Cambridge, MA