Silver Staining Techniques of Polyacrylamide Gels

After SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis the separated proteins have to be visualized by staining in the gel. The same is true after transfer of separated proteins to a blotting membrane in order to verify an efficient transfer and to visualize the amount of protein(s) which remained in the gel. Several different staining techniques exist for staining of proteins in SDS-polyacrylamide gels. The sensitivity of these staining procedures are different, also the expenditure of time and other aspects. Still, silver staining is among the most sensitive and reliable staining.