On Thu, 8 Jun 2000, Philopena, Jennifer wrote:

> HI.  I have a colleague who wants to strip the antibody from it's receptor
> in frozen tissue sections.  This would not be the applied antibody but an
> endogenous one bound in vivo.  Does anyone know how to do this?  We were
> told maybe a water wash would do it?  Thanks a lot.  Jen

  The forces that hold antigens and antibodies together are overcome
  by acids (e.g. pH 3) and strong salt solutions. If the binding
  occurred in vivo, the bound antibody molecules may have been
  denatured and made insoluble by fixation or by freezing & thawing. 
  If this hasn't happened, treating an unfixed section with acid or 
  salt solutions will extract all sorts of materials. The microscopic
  anatomy of the tissue will be adversely affected and many targets
  of immunohistochemical staining will be removed. 

  This email doesn't answer your question, but it does point out
  that there may not be an answer.

 John A. Kiernan,
 Department of Anatomy & Cell Biology,
 The University of Western Ontario,
 LONDON,  Canada  N6A 5C1