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Versatility of immunohistochemical reactions: comprehensive survey of detection systems
1Department of Histology and Embryology, Charles University, Faculty of Medicine, Hradec Králové.
The field of immunohistochemistry comprises histological methods enabling detection of tissue antigens via specific antibodies. Although all these techniques take an advantage of a large specificity of antibody to a particular tissue antigen there are many different approaches for enhancement and visualization of the signal. The aim of the present review article was to briefly outline the historical milestones that made the rapid progress of this discipline possible and give a comprehensive survey of immunohistochemical methods applicable to biomedical research. The survey starts with a description of the direct immunohistochemical method and then pays attention to a huge number of indirect methods. For better explanation of principles of individual techniques, the text is accompanied with graphical schemes. The highest attention is given to immunohistochemical methods that are most generally used, i.e. enzyme anti-enzyme complex methods (e.g. Peroxidase Anti-Peroxidase/PAP/ or Alkaline Phosphatase Anti-Alkaline Phosphatase /APAAP/) and methods based on avidin-biotin interactions (Bridged Avidin-Biotin/BRAB/, Avidin-Biotin Complex /ABC/, Labelled Avidin-Biotin/LAB/). Nevertheless, the principles of other immunohistochemical methods like two- or three-step indirect immunohistochemical methods, methods based on protein A-antibody interaction and Hapten Antibody Anti-Hapten method (HAAH), are also thoroughly characterized. Usefulness of each method for a specific utilization, its advantages and disadvantages are mentioned and compared with the latest immunohistochemical techniques, like Multi-Layered Peroxidase-Labelled Antibody (MLP) and water soluble polymer conjugates, e.g. Enhanced Polymer One-Step staining (EPOS) or EnVision. The last paragraphs are devoted to immunohistochemical amplification systems (Catalyzed Signal Amplification/CSA/ and label anti-label) that dramatically increase sensitivity of detection systems and enable to compare sensitivity of immunohistochemical methods with the most sensitive methods of molecular biologists.
The field of immunohistochemistry comprises histological methods enabling detection of tissue antigens via specific antibodies. Although all these techniques take an advantage of a large specificity of antibody to a particular tissue antigen there are many different approaches for enhancement and visualization of the signal. The aim of the present review article was to briefly outline the historical milestones that made the rapid progress of this discipline possible and give a comprehensive survey of immunohistochemical methods applicable to biomedical research. The survey starts with a description of the direct immunohistochemical method and then pays attention to a huge number of indirect methods. For better explanation of principles of individual techniques, the text is accompanied with graphical schemes. The highest attention is given to immunohistochemical methods that are most generally used, i.e. enzyme anti-enzyme complex methods (e.g. Peroxidase Anti-Peroxidase/PAP/ or Alkaline Phosphatase Anti-Alkaline Phosphatase /APAAP/) and methods based on avidin-biotin interactions (Bridged Avidin-Biotin/BRAB/, Avidin-Biotin Complex /ABC/, Labelled Avidin-Biotin/LAB/). Nevertheless, the principles of other immunohistochemical methods like two- or three-step indirect immunohistochemical methods, methods based on protein A-antibody interaction and Hapten Antibody Anti-Hapten method (HAAH), are also thoroughly characterized. Usefulness of each method for a specific utilization, its advantages and disadvantages are mentioned and compared with the latest immunohistochemical techniques, like Multi-Layered Peroxidase-Labelled Antibody (MLP) and water soluble polymer conjugates, e.g. Enhanced Polymer One-Step staining (EPOS) or EnVision. The last paragraphs are devoted to immunohistochemical amplification systems (Catalyzed Signal Amplification/CSA/ and label anti-label) that dramatically increase sensitivity of detection systems and enable to compare sensitivity of immunohistochemical methods with the most sensitive methods of molecular biologists.