Dot immunobinding and immunoblotting of picogram and nanogram quantities of small peptides on activated nitrocellulose.

Nitrocellulose was activated with divinyl sulfone, a spacer of ethylenediamine, and glutaraldehyde. The aldehyde groups on the activated nitrocellulose, Nit-CHO, were stable through one month at 4 degrees C. Peptides were attached to the membrane by reaction of the amino group with the free carbonyl, forming peptide bonds. The decapeptide angiotensin I (AI), the octapeptide angiotensin II (AII), angiotensin analogues, Met- and Leu-enkephalin (Met-E and Leu-E) were tested on the membranes with specific rabbit antibodies (sRaAb) against the peptides, and visualized by horseradish peroxidase conjugated anti-rabbit antibody (HRP-anti-RaAb). With this technique AII could be detected with a sensitivity of 20 pg/cm2 and AI by 500 pg/cm2. Substitution of Ala7 for Pro7 in AI and AII caused a marked reduced binding of anti-AI and antid-AII antisera, respectively, and it completely abolished crossreactivity of anti-AI with Ala7-AII as well as anti-AII with Ala7-AI. Peptides from the gp41 and gp36 antigens corresponding to the sequence aa596-618 of the human immunodeficiency viruses type 1 and 2, HIV-1 and HIV-2, were tested on Nit-CHO with two human sera from infected patients. The serological reactions were specific for both the HIV-1 and HIV-2 peptide, respectively. This indicated that the technique could be exploited for serological testing of humans. Separation of peptides by high performance thin layer chromatography (HPTLC) and identification by immunoblotting was demonstrated with angiotensin analogues. After separation by HPTLC on silica aluminium plates the peptides were electrotransfered by semidry electroblotting on Nit-CHO, followed by specific antibody overlays and developed as for the dot immunobinding technique. This combined method enabled us to differentiate between closely related peptide analogues and it improved the sensitivity of peptide detection 100-1000 fold as compared to visualization by quenched fluorescence on chromatography plates.