Fluorography of tritium-labeled proteins in silver-stained polyacrylamide gels

Silver-staining of polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE)-separated proteins allows sensitive detection of proteins but severely reduces the ability to detect weak beta-emitters present in the protein band. A simple procedure is described in which silver can be removed from a silver-stained PAGE gel (deargentation) using photographic fixer, and the silver-free gel can be enhanced and used for fluorography. A quantitative study of sensitivity is reported for 3H-labeled bovine serum albumin with a one-dimensional sodium dodecyl sulfate-PAGE slab gel.