Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 22, 2026

Western Blotting: Sample Preparation to Detection
Published on: October 14, 2010
A single-step simultaneous protein staining procedure for polyacrylamide gels and nitrocellulose membranes by Alta
Jayanta K Pal1, Sunil K Berwal, Rupali N Soni
1University of Pune, Pune, India. jkpal@unipune.ac.in
Abstract:
A simple method for staining of proteins simultaneously on sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) polyacrylamide gels and nitrocellulose membranes by Alta during western blot analysis is described. A 5% solution of Alta, a commercially available cosmetic preparation, is added in the upper tank buffer during electrophoresis. On completion of electrophoresis, the gel is washed in distilled water and viewed on a white light plate and a transilluminator to photograph the protein profiles. The gel is processed for western blot transfer of proteins onto a nitrocellulose membrane, and upon completion, the protein profiles on the membrane are viewed and photographed as stated above. The membrane can then be processed for immunostaining as per the standard procedure. Thus, the staining procedure using Alta is simple, rapid (without any need of destaining), and cost-effective.
Related Concept Videos
Western Blotting
The technique begins with separating proteins from the sample using sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE), followed by protein transfer, immunoblotting, and finally, protein detection.
SDS-PAGE
A variation of gel electrophoresis, termed polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE), is commonly used for separating proteins according to their molecular size by passing them through a polyacrylamide gel. Because of the varying charges associated with amino acid side chains, PAGE can be used to separate intact proteins...
Two-dimensional Gel Electrophoresis
The first dimension separation uses the isoelectric focusing or IEF technique performed on immobilized pH gradient (IPG) strips that separate proteins according to their isoelectric points.
Biological samples, such as cells...
Southern Blot
Denatured DNA fragments must be transferred onto a carrier membrane from the gel to make it accessible to a probe - a small ssDNA fragment complementary to the target DNA...

