How should antibodies be stored?
Optimal storage depends on what you plan to do with them. Antibodies are reasonably stable and can be stored for weeks at 4˚C without noticeable loss of activity. However, for storage longer than a couple of weeks, one should either freeze them, or keep them in 50% glycerol at -20˚C. The main consideration is that antibody preparations in general lose about 10% of their activity when they are frozen and thawed. Therefore, any strategy for storage and use should aim to limit freezing and thawing. For example, serum should be aliquoted before freezing so as to avoid repetitive freezing and thawing. For routine lab use in procedures such as immunoprecipitation, Western blotting, and immunofluorescence, it is best to dilute the antibody preparations in 50% glycerol for storage at -20˚C. The preparation is perfectly stable for many years in this condition, and because it does not freeze, one can repeatedly pipette directly from the vial without ever having to subject the sample to freeze/th
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