Home Failure Case Library Physical Membrane Damage and Artifacts
ELISPOT severe

Physical Membrane Damage and Artifacts

Symptom
Membrane shows physical damage, scratches, or irregular patterns. Spots may appear distorted or artifacts present as non-specific signals.
Common Causes
  1. 1 Flow rate on automated washer too high or manual pipetting too harsh
  2. 2 Pipette tips touching the membrane during washing or reagent addition steps
  3. 3 Membrane dried out at various experimental stages
  4. 4 Membrane not pretreated with 35% ethanol before coating
Solutions
  1. 1 Use gentler washing procedure; reduce flow rate on automated washers
  2. 2 Exercise care during all pipetting steps, especially automated washing
  3. 3 Keep membrane hydrated at all stages; never allow to dry out
  4. 4 Pretreat membrane with 35% ethanol followed by 3× PBS washes
Related Video (2)
Mabtech ★ 85
ELISpot tutorial: step-by-step full assay protocol
"Step-by-step protocol tutorial with handling tips directly addresses proper technique to avoid physical membrane damage from incorrect pipetting and washing procedures"
Animated biology With arpan ★ 72
Elispot assay ( assay to determine cytokine producing cells)
"Overview of ELISpot assay principles and basic procedure provides foundational understanding of membrane handling requirements and potential artifact sources"
Source: abcam.com ↗
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