Improved avidin-biotin immunoperoxidase method for terminal deoxyribonucleotidyl transferase and immunophenotypic characterization of blood cells.

Abstract

This report describes a simple avidin-biotin immunoperoxidase method for detection of cell surface antigens and terminal deoxyribonucleotidyl transferase (TdT) in blood, bone marrow, and body fluids. It employs enhanced sensitivity avidin-biotin complex (ABC) reagents and includes a step for quenching of endogenous peroxidase activity that does not diminish antigenic reactivity, allowing its application to specimens (such as blood or bone marrow films) that have significant levels of endogenous peroxidase. This quenching step is performed after the secondary (biotinylated) antibody incubation, which also allows for maximum sensitivity. Examples of results obtained with this method are illustrated, and advantages over other immunocytochemical methods are discussed.