How do I prepare my samples for immunolabeling procedures?

For pre-embedding immunolabeling, the cells are exposed to both the primary antibody and secondary antibody in situ, before normal fixation procedures. Because we work with the cells live or in situ, the cell line would be sent to ABI fresh in their normal cell culture media.

Negative stain immunolabeling is performed on fresh specimens in suspension before chemical fixation is employed, thus allowing for the antigenicity of the sample to be intensified. The specimens would be sent to ABI either fresh or frozen and would be handled as a "live" sample.

Specimens to be examined by negative staining techniques may have to be concentrated before immunolabeling techniques.

For post-embedding labeling procedures, immunolabeling is carried out on cells and tissues that have been fixed and embedded in a plastic resin. An embedded block containing the specimen is ultra-thin sectioned, thus allowing access to antigens as they become exposed on the surface of the sections.

Following this procedure, the cells and/or tissue must be fixed using a chemical fixative before shipment to ABI. Extensive testing of the fixatives and chemicals used during processing is performed by both ABI and the investigator to maximize the probability of successful immunolabeling.