A HIGHLY SENSITIVE DETECTION METHOD FOR IMMUNOHISTOCHEMISTRY USING BIOTINYLATED TYRAMINE

A highly sensitive method for light microscopic immunohistochemistry i s described, The increased sensitivity compared with current methodolo gies is based on the horseradish peroxidase-catalysed deposition of bi otinylated tyramine at the sites of immunoreactivity, followed by the detection of the biotin with streptavidin biotin horseradish peroxidas e complex, This method is of general applicability in immunohistochemi stry and has several important advantages over currently used immunohi stochemical detection procedures, The most significant advantage is th at several antibodies which to date have been non-reactive, even in an tigen-retrieval formalin-fixed, max-embedded sections, now show strong and reproducible immunoreactivity using biotinylated tyramine amplifi cation, In addition, many other antibodies can be used at significantl y higher dilutions. (C) 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.