Overview of Antibodies for Immunochemistry

Immunohistochemistry is widely used to identify, in situ, various components of cells and tissues in both normal and pathological conditions and is an exceptionally powerful method to demonstrate the localization of cellular components. Immunoglobulins (antibodies) are glycoproteins and are divided into five major classes. IgG, which composes approximately 75% of the immunoglobulins in human serum, is most commonly used for immunostaining. Two types of detection systems, fluorescent and enzyme based are used for immunostaining. The choice of detection system depends on the type of sample and the availability of fluorescent or bight field microscopes as well as the type of information the investigator would like to obtain. This chapter provides an overview of antibody characteristics, and their use in immunostaining.