Question

When using immunohistochemistry to label specific proteins, one commonly uses a primary and secondary antibody. What does each of these antibodies recognize and why do we use both?

Answer 1

primary antibody recognizes a particular antigen and secondary antibody recognizes the whole Ab-Ag complex formed. so if you want to study the complex then secondary Ab i used.

Answer 2

but why both

Answer 3

ill just confirm and then give u d ans...i dnt wanna give the wrong ans.

Answer 4

ok thank you

Answer 5

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Primary_and_secondary_antibodies
this would help u i guess.

Answer 6

A secondary antibody aids in the detection, sorting or purification of target antigens by binding to a primary antibody, which directly binds to the target antigen. The use of secondary antibodies to indirectly detect target antigens requires more steps than using the primary antibody alone but can also offer significant advantages over primary antibodies that are directly labeled. Secondary antibodies offer increased sensitivity through the signal amplification that occurs as multiple secondary antibodies bind to a single primary antibody. In addition, a given secondary antibody can be used with any primary antibody of the same isotype and target species, making it a more versatile reagent than individually labeled primary antibodies.

Answer 7

this is the perfect ans i think.

Answer 8

thank you