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MAXblock™ Blocking Medium is a protein-based, non-mammalian blocking agent for use in immunofluorescence and immunostaining assays. Superior blocking is achieved utilizing a protein blend that demonstrates no cross-reactivity with secondary antibodies. It has been proven effective at blocking non-specific binding of antibodies in immunofluorescence, as well as in immunohistochemistry.
Figure 1: MAXblock Blocking Efficacy.
Methanol-fixed HeLa cells grown on a coverslip were blocked overnight in MAXblock (A), 5% non-fat dry milk (C), 5% BSA (D) or Thermo-Fisher Pierce Sea Block (E). Cells were then incubated with a fluorescent anti-rabbit secondary antibody at a dilution of 1:250 (far above the recommended dilution to demonstrate the effectiveness of MAXblock), washed with MAXwash and mounted using MAXfluor™ DAPI. Any observed signal (pseudo-colored red) is caused by non-specific binding of the secondary due to incomplete blocking. Note that no staining is observed in panel A, demonstrating the effectiveness of MAXblock. (Panel B is a 150% overexposure of the fluorescent channel of the MAXblock slide, which shows cell position and demonstrates that antibody binding is barely detectable above background.) Experiments with an anti-mouse secondary gave nearly identical results.
Get the exact immunofluorescence reagents you need
For your convenience, MAXblock is also offered as a component in the MAXpack™ Immunostaining Media Kit, which also contains MAXbind™ Staining Medium and MAXwash™ Washing Medium. And, for a complete solution containing everything you need for immunofluorescence, see the complete MAX Stain™ Universal Immunofluorescence System.
