Technical Help for Undecagold

Undecagold or Nanogold®

Undecagold will not be visible in a regular transmission electron microscope, so for most applications we recommend Nanogold®. Undecagold is intended for use in high-resolution instruments such as the Scanning Transmission Electron microscope (STEM) or by researchers who would use it as a test for the resolution of their instruments.

However, undecagold may be useful for very high resolution studies where extensive image analysis is performed, or many images combined to give higher structural resolution than afforded by the instrument directly. For an example, see:

• Zlotnick, A., Cheng, N., Stahl, S. J., Conway, J. F., Steven, A. C., and Wingfield, P. T.: Localization of the C terminus of the assembly domain of hepatitis B virus capsid protein: Implicatins for morphogenesis and organization of encapsidated RNA; Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 94, 9556-9561 (1997).

Undecagold may also be useful for permeation or diffusion studies in which the size of pores or hole structures in biological compartments or membranes are measured. Undecagold has an overall size (including coordinated ligands) of 2.0 nm; Nanogold® has an overall size of 2.5 to 2.7 nm.

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Silver Enhancement

Yes, but much more slowly than Nanogold®. While exact comparisons of the rates of reaction are difficult, immunoblot tests with undecagold-labeled antibodies suggest that the smallest quantities of antigen visulized with un undecagold probe is two to three orders of magnitude more than that visualized with the corresponding Nanogold® probe (i.e. undecagold is two to three orders of magnitude less sensitive).

Reference:

• Hainfeld, J. F., and Furuya, F. R.: Silver-enhancement of Nanogold and undecagold: in Immunogold-Silver Staining: Principles, Methods and Applications," M. A. Hayat (Ed.); CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL, 1995, pp. 71-96.

Contents | Catalog Info: Undecagold | Catalog (Distributor) | References