I think your best bet for collagen antibodies is from the U of Iowa
Hybridoma Bank, they are all mouse monoclonal, not sure if they cross react
with porcine but they can tell you at the bank and put you in contact with
the investigator who developed the clone.  I have done a lot of picro/sirius
staining using polarized light but I do not think  you can distinguish
collagen types, we used it to measure collagen bundles but not types of
collagen.
Patsy
  

Patsy Ruegg, HT(ASCP)QIHC
IHCtech
12635 Montview Blvd. #216
Aurora, CO 80010
720-859-4060
fax 720-859-4110
pruegg@ihctech.net
www.ihctech.net 

-----Original Message-----
From: histonet-bounces@lists.utsouthwestern.edu
[mailto:histonet-bounces@lists.utsouthwestern.edu] On Behalf Of Stephens,
Elizabeth Humes
Sent: Wednesday, May 30, 2007 4:43 PM
To: histonet@lists.utsouthwestern.edu
Subject: [Histonet] Picrosirius Red in Valves

I'm trying to stain for collagen I in porcine heart valves, but have had
trouble getting good staining with various antibodies. Do you know if
collagen I can be distinguished from other collagens using picrosirius red
with polarized light? I do have a nice Collagen III Antibody (which is the
other
major collagen in heart valves), so I could potentially approximate the
collagen I as the difference bw picrosirius red and collagen III staining. 

(My problem with collagen I antibodies is that I seem to get strong staining
around the collagen dense valve annulus core, but light staining in the
areas that stain yellow by Movat. The antibody does bind C-propeptide of
collagen I, so I don't know if these precursors would be present around the
annulus core and not within the core?)

Thank you!!
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