ELISA Blocking Buffer - Non-Mammalian-based

1. Coat antibody or antigen onto the ELISA plate using ICT’s Antibody Coating Buffer or Antigen Coating Buffer., 2. Incubate 8–24 hours at room temperature (RT)., 3. Aspirate the coating solution., 4. Wash each Well twice with ICT’s ELISA Wash Buffer., 5. Block the uncoated regions of the ELISA plate by pipetting 300–400 µL of blocking buffer into each Well. Always use an equal or greater volume of blocking buffer than was used for the coating buffer solution., 6. Incubate 8–24 hours at RT. For best blocking, incubate overnight at RT., 7. Aspirate the blocking buffer; do not wash., 8. Run the assay immediately, or dry the plate for long-term storage and seal in a foil storage bag with a desiccant pack. Store dried and packaged plates at 2-8°C.

Reduces background using small, Non-Mammalian-based blocking agents. ELISA Blocking Buffer - Non-Mammalian-based utilizes a Non-Mammalian-based protein extract and small molecular stabilizers to provide a high degree of blocking efficiency. It is designed for antigen-down and antibody sandwich immunoassays with high background problems. ELISA Blocking Buffer - Non-Mammalian-based is a heterogeneous mixture of small molecules capable of blocking the unoccupied regions of the polystyrene plate Wells that are not sterically accessible to larger, traditional mammalian blocking agents. This minimizes non-specific binding interactions and significantly reduces background noise, increasing the sensitivity of the assay. These small blocking molecules also stabilize the adsorbed proteins for improved retention of antigenicity or antibody activity after drying and long-term storage. In addition, the small size of these unique blocking agents results in minimal steric hindrance to key epitope regions of coated proteins, which prevents masking of small coated peptides, enhancing their specific antigenic signal. Since ELISA Blocking Buffer - Non-Mammalian-based utilizes a Non-Mammalian-based protein blocking agent, it is antigenically foreign to most mammalian immune systems. In antigen-down ELISA formats used to detect antigen-specific antibodies, this reduces the possibility of false-positives generated from endogenous antibodies in the sample reacting with plate blocking proteins. ELISA Blocking Buffer - Non-Mammalian-based is particularly useful when working with human, swine, and bovine serum samples, as minimal interaction between the blocking molecules and mammalian serum matrices results in lower backgrounds. ELISA Blocking Buffer - Non-Mammalian-based contains an antimicrobial agent for room temperature blocking of the plate and for long-term storage of the dried plate at 2-8°C. When preparing plates, the antibody or antigen is typically coated using 50-200 µL of coating solution per Well. After coating, plates are normally washed to remove un-bound proteins and then blocked using a larger volume of blocking buffer than was used for coating, such as 300 µL per Well. This ensures that all uncoated regions inside the Well are blocked sufficiently.