Hi Donna and other histonetters!
You mentioned a good antibody against B gal in paraffin?  Would you please share which one it is?  I am currently trying one from Sigma per Hiro Nitta's suggestion.  Many thanks.    Maureen Loomer @ ECU

-----Original Message-----
From: "Montague, Donna C" <MontagueDonnaC@uams.edu>
To: 'Mary Rabinowitz' <mkrabin@andrew.cmu.edu>
Sent: Tue, 19 Nov 2002 11:55:05 -0600
Subject: RE: X-gal in paraffin

Mary and interested others:
 
After fixation in aqueous aldehyde fixative of choice, rinse the tissues
in deionized water followed by three rinses 10 minutes each in the
following buffer:
    Prestain buffer: Final concentrations are given.
    0.1 M sodium phosphate, pH 8.3 - 8.5
    2 mM magnesium chloride
    0.1 % sodium deoxycholate
    0.2 % Triton-X 100 (or Nonidet P-40)
 
Stain is made up as needed in the prestain rinse solution to contain the
final concentrations listed. Stain in the prepared solution 30 minutes
to overnight at room temperature.
    1 mg/mL X-gal (dissolved in DMSO at 40 mg/mL, store the remaining
stock at -20 oC protected from light)
    5 mM K3Fe(CN)6 (ferric cyanate)
    5 mM K4Fe(CN)6-3H2O (ferrous cyanate)
 
After staining, materials can be decalcified and processed as desired.
 
Additionally: an anti-LazZ antibody exists that works well on paraffin
processed tissues following trypsin enzymatic epitope retrieval. 
 
Hope this helps and sorry for the delay.
Donna Montague, MS
Research Associate
Center for Orthopaedic Research
UAMS Medical Center