Unlabeled antibody peroxidase-antiperoxidase method combined with direct immunofluorescence

Paired staining with the unlabeled antibody peroxidase-antiperoxidase (PAP) method and direct immunofluorescence (DIF) differentiated distinctly between gastrin- and somatostatin-producing cells in the human gastric antrum. Similar paired staining of complexed lambda and alpha chains in immunoglobulin (Ig)A myeloma cells, of kappa and free J chains in IgG myeloma cells, and of secretory IgA and its epithelial transport protein, the free secretory component (SC), in colonic crypt cells, demonstrated that PAP staining inhibits subsequent DIF staining of an antigenic determinant present on the same molecule as the antigen revealed by the brown color of diaminobenzidine (DAB) or present or an unassociated molecule in the same cell. A quenching effect of the DAB reaction product was noted for both fluorescein (green) and rhodamine (red) emissions. In addition, a blocking effect of the DAB deposits has been demonstrated and is assumed to be the principal methodological basis for the paired PAP-DIF staining approach omitting intermediate antibody elution, as well as for the more time-consuming sequential PAP staining with DAB substrate for the first and 4-chloro-1-naphthol (CN) for the second antigen. The quenching and blocking effects limit in practice the paired PAP-DIF method to the localization of antigens present in separate cells.