Immunofluorescence: The R. E. Dyer Lecture

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Abstract
Fluorescent antibodies specifically mark antigenic material in tissue sections by the formation of fluorescent immune precipitates. In effect, this places the specificity of immune reactions in the hands of the histochemist or adds a new, microscopic dimension to the techniques of the diagnostic serologist. For these reasons, such reactions are of increasing importance in the study of tissue components and the movements of foreign and native macromolecules into and out of cells''. Fluorescent antibodies are also of increasingly practical value in the diagnosis of infectious disease because they can be used to identify small numbers of bacterial cells, or viral antigens in an infected host cell, and because the agent need not be viable at the time of examination. Hence, cultures of bacteria may be bypassed with a saving of time. Success in diagnosis is dependent on the care with which the immune reagents are prepared and tested and on the controls used to establish the specificity of each reaction.