An alkaline-based chemical antigen retrieval pretreatment step was used to enhance immunolabeling of disease-associated prion protein (PrPSc) in formalin-fixed and paraffin-embedded tissue sections from cattle with bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE). The modified chemical method used in this study amplified the PrPSc signal by unmasking PrPSc compared with the normal cellular prion protein. In addition, this method reduced the nonspecific background immunolabeling that resulted from the destruction of the residual normal cellular form of the prion protein, and reduced the treatment time compared with the usual autoclave pretreatment step. Immunolabeled PrPSc was thereby clearly detected in the brain of BSE-affected cattle.
(Research Center for Prion Diseases)
References:
Okada H. et al. (2010) J. Vet. Med. Sci. 72: 1423-1429
