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Updated: May 27, 2026
10:55
Staining Proteins in Gels
Published on: July 8, 2008
White gels: an easy way to preserve methylene blue stained gels
1Department of Chemistry, Towson University, Towson, MD 21252, USA. asoto@towson.edu
Analytical Biochemistry
|November 24, 2011
Abstract:
Methylene blue can be used as a stain for visualizing nucleic acids in polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. However, its relatively low sensitivity and reversible binding make it a temporary stain that diffuses from the gel relatively fast. Here we describe a very simple method for fixing methylene blue bands in nucleic acid polyacrylamide gels. The procedure makes the methylene blue stain permanent and increases the visibility of the bands, also contributing to increasing the sensitivity of methylene blue.
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