The Amersham™ QuickStain Kit contains a Cy™5 fluorophore and labeling buffer for easy detection of proteins in SDSPAGE gels and on Western blotting membranes. The ready to use Cy5 N-hydroxysuccinimide (NHS) ester and Tris labeling buffer ensure robust and consistent labeling for detection of proteins in diverse samples.

• Ease of use: Ready to use reagents for fast and convenient analysis of proteins following one-dimensional (1-D) electrophoresis and/or Western blotting
• Fast protocols: Choose between a quick 5 min protocol and a standard 30 min quantitative protocol
• Wide sample range: Stain complex and purified samples with protein concentrations ranging from 1 µg/ml to 20 mg/ml, without the need to pre-measure protein concentration
• Sensitivity: As good as silver staining, sub-ng sensitivity
• Broad dynamic range: With a fluorescence imager or scanner, it is possible to simultaneously detect main bands and impurity levels down to parts per thousand (0.1%)
• Robustness: A 10-fold dilution of samples with the labeling buffer, which has a high buffering capacity, ensures reproducible labeling at optimal pH for a wide variety of samples
• Versatility: Most materials exhibit low Cy5 fluorescence background, which makes the kit compatible with many common gel formats and membranes

With the easy Cy5 prelabeling of Amersham™ QuickStain, there is no need to do post-staining (e.g., Coomassie™ or silver staining) of gels or Ponceau S staining of membranes.

The kit is compatible with common gel-buffer electrophoresis systems, including Tris-acetate and Tris-glycine buffer systems. Many plastic materials exhibit a low fluorescence background in the Cy5 spectral region, which makes Cy5 staining well suited for precise quantitation of proteins using a wide variety of gel formats (i.e. precast, homecast, cassettes, backed, and non backed). Using CCD imagers and laser scanners proteins can be detected with high sensitivity and a broad linear dynamic range.

Amersham™ QuickStain can be used for a wide variety of protein analysis applications, from quick visualization of protein content in different samples to accurate quantitation of target proteins using calibration curves.

Use Cy5 to detect total protein content of a sample and a second dye to detect your protein of interest. This multiplexing capability allows you to evaluate the transfer efficiency and adjust for loading errors using normalization.