Application of three kinds of staining methods for protein in SDS-PAGE

Objective: To compare three kinds of staining methods for proteins in SDS PAGE. Methods: The proteins in SDS PAGE were stained with coomassie brilliant blue staining, copper staining and silver staining. Then the proteins were restained after coomassie brilliant blue staining or copper staining. Results:The silver staining was the most sensitive, the sensitivity of the copper staining was the former between that of silver staining and the coomassie brilliant blue staining. It took only five minutes to stain proteins with copper staining. After copper staining, the proteins could be restained by silver staining or coomassie brilliant blue staining. Conclusions: Copper staining could be the first choice for rapid analysis of proteins in SDS PAGE. [