Roger A Burger wrote: > > Thanks to all who replied to my message about an antibody shipment that was > lost in shipping, finally arrived after 2 weeks and the manufacturer tech > services telling me it would be just fine and to keep it. > > In the end I refused shipment and the manufacturer sent another the next > day. Your advice was what I expected to hear with comments like, > > "You are being shafted. I would not use it, particularly for patient > work...Absolutley not! " > "Personally I wouldn't touch it with a barge pole" > "Don't accept the old antibody! Who knows how hot it got sitting around > somewhere for 14 days." > 'No, I would insist that the company send a new one" > "As we are a clinical lab we parallel test all reagents and find some bad > batches that are shipped in a timely manner. I never trust anything I don't > test." > > This is basically how I felt about the incident. > > But some other interesting comments also surfaced, > > "In my experience, room temp is not a problem unless there is the > possibility of "things" growing in it. However, excessive heat can > denature the protein or cause aggregates. I would try it. " > > " I would use it I always got my BD MAB's at room temp. Antibodies seem to > be pretty robust. I figure they are pretty stable when they are grown in > culture at 37 degrees C. Or even in one's own body." > > "...We normally ship at ambient temperature with no problems. We have > done shipping tests where we shipped to Europe and back at ambient temperature > and the antibody was still ok. PE. APC and PE-Cy5 are probably a little more > sensitive." > > These reponses piqued my interest. I am always paranoid about reagent > deterioration so I get my cells ready, add the antibody and return it to > the cold cabinet as quickly as possible. At times this poses an > inconvenience and I would like to be able to allow an Ab to reach room temp > without fear of loss of activity. Some of the reponses to this inquiry > help me relax a bit. > > Thanks again for your input > > Roger A. Burger , Ph.D. > Research Assistant Professor, Immunology > Utah State University > Logan, UT 84322-6895 > Voice: 435-797-2042 > FAX: 435-797-4054 > E-mail: Roger@cpd2.usu.edu Dear Flowers, Reading the responses that Roger got reminded me of a test I carried out. While looking for some antisera in the -20 storage I came across some old antisera (expiered more than 2 years)! I decided to see how they compare. These where from BD, Dako, Coulter. I tested them (CD19) against a fresh lot of Immunotech antisera. The Coulter reagent was as good as fresh! The Dako was a 2nd best. The BD reagent was very close to negative! Just an observation to show that you cannot always go by the book! -- Warmest regards from: -------------------- Fareed Al-Gurg, Haematology, Dubai Hospital, Dubai - U.A.E. Tel: (09714) 714444 / 7075447 / 512173 Fax: (09714) 441143 / 512121 -- End --
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