First, I am not an immuno expert but my opinion is:  a negative control
should be ran for each antibody.  You can save money my putting the
control tissue and the patient tissue on the same slide.  There are some
really nice slides which have an imprinted area labeled control and
patient on each slide.  Second, you must run the exact same procedure on
your negative control as you test, otherwise you are wasting your time
with a negative control, also, normal serum should be used which is
compatible with the host of your antibody.  Mouse antibody should have
mouse normal serum, etc.
 Don Luke, HT (ASCP)
SOUTH GEORGIA MEDICAL CENTER
DEPARTMENT OF PATHOLOGY
2501 N. Patterson St
VALDOSTA, GA 31603
PHONE (912) 259-4830



>----------
>From: 	Barnhart, Tammy[SMTP:tbarnhart@primecare.org]
>Sent: 	Monday, October 12, 1998 10:07 AM
>To: 	histonet@pathology.swmed.edu
>Subject: 	Negative controls for immunos
>
>Histonetters,
>                Question, a new CAP standard (08.2257) states, " Are
>negative controls used for each antibody?".  We were wondering how this
>standard is applied at other labs.  At this time we only run negative
>controls on different tissue blocks used, both patient specimens and
>controls.  We use several multitissue control blocks ( one for CDs, one for
>keratins, etc) and will run different negative controls for different serum
>types (ie: rabbit or mouse).  If we interprete this standard literally, we
>will greatly increase the number of slides handled and, almost, double our
>reagent costs.  Which brings up a second question, how do you handle your
>negative controls?  Do you run them completely, using serum instead of
>primary antibody, or do an abbreviated procedure?  All reponses would be
>appreciated.  Thanks in advance,
>
>Tammy Barnhart
>
>
>