Western blot protocol

Our western blot protocol includes solutions and reagents, procedures, and useful links to guide you through your experiment.

Reviewed December 14 2020

Western blotting is a technique that uses specific antibodies to identify proteins that have been separated based on size by gel electrophoresis. The immunoassay uses a membrane made of nitrocellulose or PVDF (polyvinylidene fluoride). The gel is placed next to the membrane and the application of an electrical current induces the proteins to migrate from the gel to the membrane. The membrane can then be further processed with antibodies specific for the target of interest and visualized using secondary antibodies and detection reagents.

Contents

• Solutions and reagents: lysis buffers
• ​Solutions and reagents: running, transfer, and blocking buffers
• Sample lysis
• Sample preparation
• Loading and running the gel
• Transferring the protein
• Antibody staining
• Useful links
• Webinar transcript

View our western blot protocol video below.

​For other video protocols, please visit our video protocols library here.

​>> Print the full western blot protocol

>> View our western blot protocol diagram

​​If you are looking to build up your skills in western blot analysis, check out our free on-demand western blot training. 

​Solutions and reagents: lysis buffers

These buffers may be stored at 4°C for several weeks or aliquoted and stored at -20°C for up to a year.

NP-40 buffer

• 150 mM NaCl
• 1.0% NP-40 (possible to substitute with 0.1% Triton X-100)
• 50 mM Tris-HCl, pH 8.0
• Protease inhibitors
  
  

RIPA buffer (radioimmunoprecipitation assay buffer)

• 150 mM NaCl
• 1% IGEPAL CA-630
• 0.5% sodium deoxycholate
• 0.1% SDS (sodium dodecyl sulphate)
• 50 mM Tris-HCl, pH 8.0
• Protease inhibitors
  ​

Tris-HCl

• 20 mM Tris-HCl
• Protease inhibitors

​Solutions and reagents: running, transfer, and blocking buffers

​Laemmli 2X buffer/loading buffer

• 4% SDS
• 10% 2-mercaptoethanol
• 20% glycerol
• 0.004% bromophenol blue
• 0.125 M Tris-HCl

Check the pH and adjust to 6.8
​

Running buffer (Tris-Glycine/SDS)

• 25 mM Tris base
• 190 mM glycine
• 0.1% SDS

Check the pH and adjust to 8.3

Transfer buffer (wet)

• 25 mM Tris base
• 190 mM glycine
• 20% methanol
• Check the pH and adjust to 8.3

For proteins larger than 80 kDa, we recommend that SDS is included at a final concentration of 0.1%.

Transfer buffer (semi-dry)

• 48 mM Tris
• 39 mM glycine
• 20% methanol
• 0.04% SDS
  
  

Blocking buffer

3–5% milk or BSA (bovine serum albumin)

Add to TBST buffer. Mix well and filter. Failure to filter can lead to spotting, where tiny dark grains will contaminate the blot during color development.

–14,000–17,000 g

​Sample lysis

​Preparation of lysate from cell culture

1. Place the cell culture dish on ice and wash the cells with ice-cold PBS.
2. Aspirate the PBS, then add ice-cold lysis buffer (1 mL per 10⁷ cells/100 mm dish/150 cm² flask; 0.5 mL per 5x10⁶ cells/60 mm dish/75 cm² flask).
3. Scrape adherent cells off the dish using a cold plastic cell scraper, then gently transfer the cell suspension into a pre-cooled microcentrifuge tube. Alternatively, cells can be trypsinized and washed with PBS prior to resuspension in lysis buffer in a microcentrifuge tube.
4. Maintain constant agitation for 30 min at 4°C.
5. Centrifuge the cell suspension in a microcentrifuge at 4°C. You may have to vary the centrifugation force and time depending on the cell type; a guideline is 5 min at 14,000–17,000 g but this must be determined for your experiment (leukocytes need very light centrifugation).
   
6. Gently remove the tubes from the centrifuge and place on ice, aspirate the supernatant and place in a fresh tube kept on ice, and discard the pellet.
   

​Preparation of lysate from tissues

1. Dissect the tissue of interest with clean tools, on ice preferably, and as quickly as possible to prevent degradation by proteases.
2. Place the tissue in round-bottom microcentrifuge tubes or Eppendorf tubes and immerse in liquid nitrogen to snap freeze. Store samples at -80°C for later use or keep on ice for immediate homogenization. For a ~5 mg piece of tissue, add ~300 μL of ice-cold lysis buffer rapidly to the tube, homogenize with an electric homogenizer, rinse the blade twice with another 2 x 200 μL lysis buffer, then maintain constant agitation for 2 h at 4°C (eg place on an orbital shaker in the fridge). Volumes of lysis buffer must be determined in relation to the amount of tissue present; protein extract should not be too dilute to avoid loss of protein and large volumes of samples to be loaded onto gels. The minimum concentration is 0.1 mg/mL, optimal concentration is 1–5 mg/mL.
   
3. Centrifuge for 5–10 min at 14,000–17,000 g at 4°C in a microcentrifuge. Gently remove the tubes from the centrifuge and place on ice, aspirate the supernatant, and place in a fresh tube kept on ice; discard the pellet.
   
   

Sample preparation

1. Remove a small volume of lysate to perform a protein quantification assay. Determine the protein concentration for each cell lysate.
   
2. Determine how much protein to load and add an equal volume 2X Laemmli sample buffer.​
   
   We recommend reducing and denaturing the samples using the following method unless the online antibody datasheet indicates that non-reducing and non-denaturing conditions should be used.
3. To reduce and denature your samples, boil each cell lysate in sample buffer at 100°C for 5 min. Lysates can be aliquoted and stored at -20°C for future use.

​Loading and running the gel

​Transferring the protein from the gel to the membrane

The membrane can be either nitrocellulose or PVDF. Activate PVDF with methanol for 1 min and rinse with transfer buffer before preparing the stack. The time and voltage of transfer may require some optimization. We recommend following the manufacturer’s instructions. Transfer of proteins to the membrane can be checked using Ponceau S staining before the blocking step.

Prepare the stack as follows:

Figure 1. Example of prepared stack.

Antibody staining

​​

Useful links

• View more western blot protocols
• View all Abcam loading controls.
• Example loading control:  ab8227 beta actin

​

All lanes: beta Actin antibody - loading control (ab8227) at 1/5000 dilution

Lane 1: HeLa whole cell extract
Lane 2: Yeast cell extract
Lane 3: Mouse brain tissue lysate

• View our list of available positive control lysates, blocking peptides, and positive control proteins.
• View AbExcel secondary antibodies for exceptional western blots.
• Watch our easy-to-follow video protocols.

Protocols are provided by Abcam “AS-IS” based on experimentation in Abcam’s labs using Abcam’s reagents and products; your results from using protocols outside of these conditions may vary.

Webinar transcript​

The purpose of western blotting is to separate proteins on a gel according to the molecular weight. The proteins are then transferred onto a membrane where they can be detected using antibodies. Heat the samples and 95 degrees C for five to 10 minutes in a sample buffer containing a reducing agent such as beta-mercaptoethanol. This results in linearized proteins with a negative charge proportional to their size.

Place a gel into the electrophoresis tank and add in buffer, ensuring the tops of the wells are covered. Acrylamide percentage of the gel being used depends on the molecular weight of the target protein. Load a molecular weight market into the first lane then load the samples into adjacent wells. All the samples contain equal amounts of protein. Once all the samples are loaded, add running buffer, place the lid onto the electrophoresis tank. Turn on the power supply and set the voltage recommended by the manufacturer of the gels in the gel tank. You should be able to see bubbles rising through the tank. Run the gel until the dye front has moved sufficiently down the gel.

The next stage is to transfer the proteins from the gel onto a membrane. Membranes are usually made from nitrocellulose or PVDF. Remove the gel from the tank and carefully release it from its plastic case. Cut off the wells and the gel foot and place the gel into transfer buffer. Prepare the transfer stack by sandwiching the membrane and gel between filter paper and sponges. The membrane should be closest to the positive electrode and the gel closest to the negative electrode. Use a small roller to remove any bubbles between the gel and the membrane. Clamp the transfer case closed and submerge it into a transfer tank containing transfer buffer. Add water to the outer chamber to keep the system cool and put on the lid. Turn on the power supply to begin protein transfer. Time and voltage require optimization, so check the manufacturer's instructions for guidance.

Now that the proteins have migrated from the gel onto the nitrocellulose membrane, the protein of interest can be detected with an antibody. The membrane can be removed from the cassette and the molecular weight marker should now be visible. If required, the transfer of proteins can be confirmed by staining the membrane with ponceau S solution. To prevent nonspecific binding of the antibody, the membrane needs to be blocked. Pour blocking buffer onto the membrane and agitate gently on a rocker. Typically, this is done using a solution of five percent milk or bovine serum albumin, BSA, for two hours at room temperature or overnight at four degrees. The time and type of blocking buffer should be optimized, so check the datasheet of the primary antibody you intend to use for details.

After the membrane is blocked, remove the blocking buffer and add the diluted primary antibody in the same solution. Incubate on the rocker as before. Typically primary antibody incubations are for one hour at room temperature or overnight at four degrees C. Antibody concentration and incubation time will need to be optimized. Refer to the antibody datasheet for guidance. Pour off the primary antibody and rinse the membrane twice in wash buffer. Follow with one 15-minute wash and three 10 minute washes on a rocker. The wash buffer is usually tris buffered saline, TBS, or phosphate-buffered, saline, PBS, with 0.1 percent tween 20.

Pour off the wash buffer and incubate the membrane in conjugating secondary antibody which has been diluted in blocking buffer. Usually, this is done for one hour at room temperature, but antibody concentration and incubation time will need to be optimized. Pour off the secondary antibody and wash the membrane as shown previously.

There are several different systems for detection. If the secondary antibodies conjugate into an enzyme, incubate the membrane in the appropriate substrate before imaging. If the secondary antibodies are fluorescent conjugates then you can move directly onto the imaging step. Imaging can be carried out with X-ray film or with a digital imaging system. Place the membrane into an imaging tray. Place the imaging tray into the imaging system. Exposure times will most likely need to be optimized in order to clearly detect the bands relating to the proteins of interest.