Silver Enhancement of Nickel-Diaminobenzidine as Applied to Single and Double Immunoperoxidase Staining

Abstract

A reliable and practical method is proposed for increasing sensitivity and detection efficiency of immunocytochemical techniques, based on silver enhancement of the nickel-diaminobenzidine product of the peroxidase reaction. The procedure produces a strong signal at the site of the end product of the peroxidase reaction which is visible as black grains at the light microscopic level. The method has been used to detect peroxidase labeled probes in immunocytochemical tissue preparations and blotting assays and is ideal for the purposes of double staining and photographic documentation.

Key Words:

• immunocytochemistry
• detection efficiency
• diaminobenzidine
• silver enhancement
• argyrophilia