Hello!

I have been trying to stain microglia in bovine brain
sections using the GSA I-B4 lectin (Griffonia simplicifolia
lectin I isolectin B4). This has been reported to work
well for Bouin's or formalin fixed sections, also for
bovine samples (e.g. Trautwein et al., Ann Anat 1996, 178:25-31).

The problem is that I only get very beautiful endothelial
staining, despite trying a few different fixatives and several different
pretreatments. The endothelial staining is there whatever
I do, but I can't see any microglial staining, or perhaps
very weak and patchy at best.

Any ideas? Or should I just try the next lectin?

(If you're wondering why I'm so keen about lectins,
it's just that I've spent quite a lot of time testing
quite a few antibodies, and haven't found a suitable one).

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   Mikael Niku             URL: www.helsinki.fi/~mniku/
   University of Helsinki  Dept. Basic Veterinary Sciences
       - Mitäkö mieltä olen länsimaisesta sivistyksestä?
         Minusta se olisi erinomainen ajatus!
                                              - Gandhi
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