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Because BSA is a small, stable, moderately non-reactive protein, it is often used as a blocker in immunohistochemistry.4 During immunohistochemistry, which is the process that uses antibodies to identify antigens in cells, tissue sections are often incubated with BSA blockers to bind nonspecific binding sites.1,2 This binding of BSA to nonspecific binding sites increases the chance that the antibodies will bind only to the antigens of interest.6 The BSA blocker improves sensitivity by decreasing background noise as the sites are covered with the moderately non-reactive protein.3,5 During this process, minimization of nonspecific binding is essential in order to acquire the highest signal to noise ratio.3

Source-

1. "What Is Immunohistochemistry (IHC)." Immunohistochemistry. Sino Biological Inc., n.d. Web.

2. Alan P. Farwell, Susan A. Dubord-Tomasetti; Thyroid Hormone Regulates the Expression of Laminin in the Developing Rat Cerebellum. Endocrinology 1999; 140 (9): 4221-4227. doi: 10.1210/endo.140.9.7007

3. Ouellet, Michel. "How Blocking Works in Immunocytochemical Analysis with Serum or BSA."MasSci Network: Biochemistry. MasSci Network, 24 Dec. 2006. Web.

4. "Serum Albumins and Allergies." Structural Biology Knowledgebase. National Institute of General Medical Sciences of the National Institutes of Health, Oct. 2013. Web.

5. "Blocker™ BSA (10X) in PBS." Thermo Fisher Scientific. Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc., n.d. Web.

6. "Tips for Reducing ELISA Background." Biocompare. Compare Networks, 8 Oct. 2012. Web.