Can anyone explain to a layman the use of Inmuno-histochemistry in kidney disorders?

Question

I haven't any understanding so please do not use too many technical terms

Answer 1

okay I'm gonna try this. :-)

Immunohistochemistry is a way to detect certain proteins that are in your body's tissues.

In kidney diseases, there may be abnormal proteins in the kidney that you'll want to look for.

So what happens is a scientific technician will take an extremely thin slice of kidney tissue, and treat it with "antibodies" to the abnormal (bad) protein.

[An antibody is something that will stick to a certain protein, they can be made to be very selective. So there is a specially designed antibody that will find this bad protein and stick to it.]

In addition, this antibody has a "signal" stuck to it. Normally it's some kind of fluorescent (shiny, hehe) dye. After treating the sample with antibodies and getting them stuck to the abnormal proteins in the tissue, the technician will then perform a reaction that will activate the dye. Then, the sample is put under a microscope, and the picture is analyzed for presence of this dye. If the kidney is diseased and has the abnormal "bad" protein, there will be colored dye spots all over the picture.

So in short... kidney diseases can show abnormal (bad) proteins, scientists can make things ("antibodies") that stick to these bad proteins, and then these antibodies can be "activated" to light up the dye and reveal where the bad proteins (which they are sticking to!) are.

In theory, a normal kidney tissue sample would not show any fluorescence/lighting if they were looking for a "bad" protein. Of course, "bad" protein is a huge generalization, and I'm just trying to simplify it into layman's terms.

Contact me if you have other questions, hope this helps!

-IJ

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