Does a long blocking cause the background high in western blot?

branden Pattanayak
branden Pattanayak
Nov 25, 2022

I misremembered the time during the experiment, causing the PVDF membrane that should have been blocked for one hour to be blocked for two hours at 4 degrees, will this affect my results? Will it cause the background to be very high?

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Robert itamura Answered Nov 25, 2022

Indiana State University

After transfer, we need to block some sites on the PVDF membrane that do not bind to proteins to reduce the non-specific reaction of the membrane with the primary antibody, so this step is required. If these sites are not completely occluded, the background of the membrane will be high, which will also affect the strength of the signal. Blocking for too long can reduce the sensitivity of the membrane and sometimes even obscures the signal of the target protein, making the resulting protein bands weak.

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