Histology Kits: Avidin and Biotin Team Up to Tackle the Tissue

Date: May 25, 1998 Author: Shane Beck Charts For those researchers who wish to delve into cells and tissues, there are several immunohistochemical and immunocytochemical detection methods to choose from. From the antibody-enzyme conjugation and peroxidase antiperoxidase (PAP) methods pioneered in the late 1960s came the development of avidin-biotin affinity techniques. Taking advantage of avidin's high affinity for biotin, scientists were, and still are able to look at tissues in new ways. Ear

Written byShane Beck

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Date: May 25, 1998
Author: Shane Beck

Charts

For those researchers who wish to delve into cells and tissues, there are several immunohistochemical and immunocytochemical detection methods to choose from. From the antibody-enzyme conjugation and peroxidase antiperoxidase (PAP) methods pioneered in the late 1960s came the development of avidin-biotin affinity techniques. Taking advantage of avidin's high affinity for biotin, scientists were, and still are able to look at tissues in new ways. Early research in avidin-biotin cytochemistry by H. Heitzman and F. Richards ( Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences U.S., 71:3537-41, 1974) and Edward A. Bayer, Meir Wilchek, and colleagues (E.A. Bayer et al., Journal of Histochemistry and Cytochemistry, 24:933-9, 1976; E.A. Bayer and M. Wilchek, Methods in Biochemical Analysis, 26:1-45, 1980) led to the development of immunohistochemical techniques still in use today.

In the 1920s, scientists discovered the protein avidin in egg white. Avidin is a tetramer ...

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