Nitrocellulose or PVDF membrane for western blot - which one???? (Nov/13/2007 )

Nitrocellulose or PVDF membrane for western blot

Which is better or in what cases you use one or the other????

I read Nitrocellulose is compatible with all standard detection methods and has the best binding capacity without background interference. So, when should you use PVDF?

In case your testing a cellulose protein… but what also??

I think, PVDF-membrane is preferred for stripping, I am not sure if you can strip and reprobe nitrocellulose membranes so easily. PVDF membranes can be reprobed even after long time and works well, I heard that it should be more robust.

you can strip twice and reprobe nitrocellulose membrane, but you lose slightly the signal. I never tried to strip PVDF more than twice.
I have more background with PVDF than with nitrocellulose.

Do, do you think nitrocellulose are better for western???

What is the advantages of PVDF????????????

we use nitrocellulose (supported) for routine western blots. we used pvdf when we wanted to sequence the protein.

I have never used PVDF membrane. Not because I do not like them but because my PIs prefer nitrocellulose to PVDF.

I feel like I get better detection sensitivity with nitrocellulose, when I am really pushing the limit of detection. Maybe that has to do with the binding capacity, or irreversibility of binding, or the fact that PVDF seems to yield higher background, not sure .... but I always use nitro when I need maximum sensitivity.

It's probably true that PVDF does strip more easily, although I hear you can strip nitro if you try hard enough. But in my opinion, the REAL advantage of PVDF is its tensile strength. You can handle the membrane as roughly as you want and it holds up. Nitrocellulose is much more fragile and easier to break or tear.

Thank you guys!!
As I'm not planning to sequence, re-use membranes nor use organic solvents, I better use nitrocel, although, I’m curios to see the difference, If I have chance, I’ll try both at ones!!