[Histonet] RE: Is TUNEL a waste of time?

[Satoshi Akima]

On 11/04/2005, at 7:54 PM, Edwards, R.E. wrote:

> We  abandoned  the  TUNEL  method, many  years  ago  as  we  felt  it  
> gave  too  many  false  +ves, we  used  H <@t> E  staining  until  reliable 
>  antibodies came  along, e.g., caspase  3............


I have found others who use TUNEL staining express a similar opinion 
about the false positives. I would be interested to know if others too 
have found an excessive rate of false positives.

Still the TUNEL method seems to be viewed by a great many as some sort 
of Gold Standard. Many find still swear by it as a very good tool.

Regarding the issue of specificity - does caspase-3 also help to 
distinguish between apoptosis and necrosis I wonder?

Toshi Akima
PhD Student
Centre for Transplantation and Renal Research
Westmead Millenium Institute
Sydney, Australia


Toshi