Melanin labeling - (Oct/31/2012 )

Hi all,

I need to verify melanins in human epidermis. I've prepared some histologic sections, and want to see melanins using confocal microscopy. But, the problem is that there are a lot of bright dots in confocal images, hence recognizing melanins is impossible. So i'm thinking about lableling melanins and imaging in fluoresecence mode. I don't know which antibody and consequently which antigen would be suitable for labeling melanin. Any ideas or suggestions are welcomed.

Thanks in Advance,

Sean

did you stain by Fontana-Masson method? that must work well !

In addition I must say that you don't need to do imaging in fluorescence mode. you can just run immunohistochemistry (IHC) and use AP- or HRP-conjugated secondary antibody. After addition of substrate you can view your sample under light microscope. This is easier since taking bright and sharp image with fluorescence microscope is usually difficult.