Other Immune Stains

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Other Immune Stains

Last updated on Saturday, April 4 2009 by jdmiles

Immunohistochemical (IHC) staining is the technique of using antibodies against a specific antigen (such as amyloid, CD68, ubiquitin, or GFAP) to label a tissue. This technique is extremely versatile, since it can be applied to virtually any epitope to which a specific antibody can be created. It can be very specific for the target antigen, and can also be quite sensitive. Once learned, the same technique can be applied with a wide array of antibodies.

Some examples are shown below.

Related images:

immunohistochemical staining using DAB chromogen.
An example of what an immune stain looks like. By far, the most common chromogen used in developing immunocytochemical reactions is diaminobenzidine (DAB), which imparts a brown color where antibody has bound to the tissue. This is an immune stain staining...

Ubiquitin - Example of pathological findings
Ubiquitin IHC staining in the cortex of a person with early Alzheimer dementia. Ubiquitin is one of the cellular chaparones (heat shock proteins), and its accumulation within cellular compartments is a sensitive, though nonspecific, marker of chronic sublethal cellular injury.

CD68 IHC - Example of pathological findings
Using immunohistochemical (IHC) staining for the pan macrophage marker, CD68, this active MS plaque shows up stained brown.