Bioapplication of Colloidal Gold in Microbiological Immunocytochemistry

Microbiological organisms are an ubiquitous group of animals encompassing bacteria, viruses, protozoa, algae and fungi. They are adapted for survival in many diverse habitats and exert a profound effect on man and his environment. Colloidal gold electron immunocytochemistry is a useful technique for studying these organisms and may be applied in several ways. The post-embedding technique is used to detect internal antigens, whilst the pre-embedding technique is employed for the detection of external antigens. In contrast the immuno-negative stain technique is applied to detect antigens on structures such as viruses or bacterial pili which may be dried down onto an electron microscope grid and immunolabelled in situ. In addition the immuno-replica technique allows the examination of cell surfaces for the appearance of antigens. Together these techniques have yielded valuable information concerning microbiological organisms