Artifacts, silver stains

Careful sample handling is important when sensitive detection methods are employed. Silver-stained SDS-PAGE gels sometimes show artifact bands in the 50- to 70-kDa molecular mass region and irregular but distinctive vertical streaking parallel to the direction of migration. The appearance of these artifacts has been... 

If the Lammli test buffer contains mercaptoethanole or DTT, two artifact bands often develop in BSA height during the silver staining of the gel. These bands disappear if the sample is treated with iodacetamide after the reduction (Hashimoto et al. 1983). 

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