Fish Serum Blocking Buffer

Thermo Scientific Fish Serum Blocking Buffer is steelhead salmon serum in PBS that is especially useful as a blocking agent in immunohistochemistry (IHC) and other detection methods involving mammalian samples. Fish Serum Blocking Buffer is effective at stabilizing solutions and samples used for antibody-binding interactions, while at the same time minimizing the possibility of cross-reaction with mammalian sample components.

Features of Fish Serum Blocking Buffer include:
• Non-mammalian—fish proteins are less likely to have specific binding interactions with antibodies and other mammalian proteins present in typical methods
• Convenient—filtered and stabilized in PBS for compatibility with most assay systems
• Easy to use—can be used as supplied or diluted up to 10-fold as needed
• Flexible - may be used for many different applications, including as a diluent for antibodies

Fish serum offers several advantages over typical blocking buffers. Because salmon is phylogenetically distant from mammals, which are the source of the antibodies and samples used in most experiments, its serum proteins are less likely to have specific binding interactions with proteins used in the experiments. Fish Serum Blocking Buffer is effective at stabilizing solutions and samples used for antibody-binding interactions while at the same time minimizing the possibility of cross-reaction with mammalian sample components. Try it when use of more-standard sera results in background staining in IHC. In addition, this blocker is effective in various cellular imaging protocols based on visible and near-infrared fluorescence detection. It has been used to decrease background and increase signal-to-noise ratios with near-IR fluorescent probes.