Generalcomments: Antibodies,likemostproteins,donotliketobefreeze-thawed.Avoidrepetitivefreezingofyoursolution.Thebestwaytostoreyourantibodyistokeepahighproteinconcentration(>1mg/ml),addsomeproteaseinhibitors,andaliquotitforuse.ThenfreezethealiquotsandkeepjustonearoundfordaytodayuseatfourdegreesC. Rawserumcontainingantibodies: Aliquotintoreasonablealiquots(usually10-50ml)appropriatetoyouruseoftheantibodyandfreezealiquots;mostserumcanbestoredsafelyformonthsatfourdegreeswithlittlelossofactivity.Duetothepresenceofproteaseinhibitorsinserumlittleproteolysisisobservedandhighproteinconcentrationskeeptheantibodyinafavorableenvironmentwithlittledenaturation. Purifiedantibodies: Oncepurified,iftheantibodyisatlessthan0.1mg/mladdasmallamountofdetergentorprotein(0.1%TWEEN-20or1%bovineserumalbumin)andsomeproteaseinhibitorstothesolutiontoprotecttheantibody.Theseshouldbestoredinsmalleraliquots(about1ml)andfrozenforlongtermstoragethoughtheprotectedsolutionisalsostableformonthsatfourdegrees. Ascitesfluid: Thisisabitmoreproblematicasitmaycontainproteases,purifytheantibodyofinterestifpossIBLe.Otherwisejustfreeze100uLaliquotsanduseasneededbythawingwhenneeded.Don"trefreeze.
