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Plan PPP1CA chromogenic IHC in paraffin sections using renal tubules and intestinal glands as high-staining reference tissues (HPA tissue IHC). Assess nuclear and cytoplasmic staining, and account for the catalog antibody’s PPP1CB reactivity when interpreting signal (HPA tissue IHC; datasheet M02801).
Expected localisation, validated protocols, controls and antibodies — the at-a-glance facts below, then the full design guide.
| Expected localisation | Nuclear and cytoplasmic tissue staining (HPA tissue IHC) | |
| Staining pattern | Nuclear and cytoplasmic staining across several tissues (HPA tissue IHC) | |
| Antigen retrieval | Citrate pH 6 HIER, heat-mediated (datasheet M02801) | |
| Positive control | Kidney+4 more · see all | |
| Negative control | Adipose tissue+4 more · see all |
| Fixation | Keep fixation consistent across paraffin sections. (standard IHC practice; not target-specific) | |
| Caveat | M02801 also detects PPP1CB (datasheet M02801) | |
| Regulation | Expression induction not annotated (UniProt) | |
| Isoform / epitope | 3 isoforms; epitope coverage unspecified (UniProt) |
The catalog antibody’s citrate pH 6 heat retrieval protocol (datasheet M02801) is accompanied by 4 published PPP1CA IHC protocols (PMC11633043; PMC11569623; PMC10698990; PMC8805822).
| Sample | Paraffin-embedded human pancreas tissue; fixative not specified (datasheet M02801) |
| Fixation | Image fixative and duration unreported (datasheet M02801); verify before use. |
| Sectioning | 4–5 µm sections on charged slides (standard) |
| Deparaffinisation | Xylene, graded ethanol series to water (standard) |
| Antigen retrieval | Heat retrieval: Citrate pH 6, 20 min (datasheet M02801) |
| Peroxidase block | 3% H2O2, 10 min, room temperature (standard) |
| Blocking | 10% goat serum (datasheet M02801) |
| Primary antibody | Rabbit monoclonal (clone AFC-16) anti-PPP1CA, 1:50 (datasheet M02801) |
| Primary incubation | Overnight at 4 °C (standard) |
| Detection | Streptavidin-biotin complex (SABC), DAB chromogen (datasheet M02801) |
| Counterstain | Hematoxylin, blue, dehydrate and mount (standard) |
| Expected result | PPP1CA-positive staining in cells in tubules of kidney (HPA tissue IHC: High). HPA tissue profile: Cytoplasmic and nuclear expression in several tissues. No signal in the no-primary control. |
PPP1CA should show cytoplasmic and nuclear staining in several tissues (HPA tissue IHC); UniProt describes it as primarily nuclear, largely excluded from the nucleolus, and lacking a transmembrane segment (UniProt P62136). High staining is reported in kidney tubular cells and rectal and small-intestinal glandular cells (HPA tissue IHC). HPA rates the tissue profile Enhanced while noting low consistency between antibody staining and RNA expression (HPA tissue IHC).
| Kidney tubular cells or rectal and small-intestinal glandular cells show nuclear and cytoplasmic chromogen (HPA tissue IHC). | This fits the reported high staining in those cells and the broader cytoplasmic and nuclear tissue profile (HPA tissue IHC). Judge intensity against neighboring cells and a matched control section; chromogen alone does not establish antibody specificity (general IHC practice). |
| Staining appears only at cell borders, or mainly within nucleoli, with little nucleoplasmic or cytoplasmic signal. | Recheck compartment assignment and controls before calling this PPP1CA: UniProt describes predominantly nuclear protein largely excluded from nucleoli (UniProt P62136), while HPA tissue IHC reports cytoplasmic and nuclear staining (HPA tissue IHC). Membrane association is possible, but membrane-only tissue staining is not the reported IHC profile (HPA tissue IHC; HPA ICC-IF). |
| Strong chromogen appears in adipocytes, skeletal myocytes, or lymph-node germinal-center cells. | These cell populations are reported as not detected, so unexpected staining warrants a specificity check (HPA tissue IHC). Compare morphology, a no-primary control, and staining with an independent antibody where available; cross-reactivity or endogenous detection activity are possibilities, not diagnoses from appearance alone (general IHC practice). |
| Chromogen spreads across stroma, empty spaces, and many unrelated cell types without clear cell boundaries. | This is diffuse background rather than a readable cellular pattern (general IHC practice). The expected tissue pattern is cellular and includes nuclear and cytoplasmic staining (HPA tissue IHC). Check the no-primary control and review blocking, washes, and detection conditions (general IHC practice). |
| Kidney tubular cells show no convincing signal in a section expected to serve as a positive control. | That conflicts with HPA's high staining in kidney tubular cells, but a single negative section cannot establish absent PPP1CA (HPA tissue IHC). Confirm that tubules are present and review the antibody's IHC validation, retrieval, dilution, and detection controls before interpreting other negatives (general IHC practice). |
| Cell population and tissue context | Use the reported cell type, not the organ name alone, when scoring: kidney tubules and rectal or small-intestinal glands are high, whereas adipocytes and skeletal myocytes are not detected (HPA tissue IHC). |
| Compartment and targeting partners | Nuclear and cytoplasmic signal is plausible because PPP1CA is mobile and can be relocalized by targeting subunits (UniProt P62136); HPA tissue IHC reports both compartments (HPA tissue IHC). Do not require identical nuclear-to-cytoplasmic ratios in every cell (UniProt P62136). |
| Evidence strength | HPA rates the tissue profile Enhanced but flags low consistency with RNA expression (HPA tissue IHC). Its listed antibodies also differ in IHC status: CAB004545 is Enhanced and HPA046833 is Approved (HPA antibodies). Interpret weak or unexpected staining with that distinction in mind. |
| Isoform coverage | UniProt lists 3 isoforms (UniProt P62136). The supplied evidence does not locate the antibody epitope or establish isoform coverage, so staining cannot be assigned to one isoform from this section alone (UniProt P62136; HPA antibodies). |
| Antigen retrieval | Retrieval can be reviewed when a paraffin-section control fails (general IHC practice). No supplied UniProt or HPA evidence identifies a PPP1CA-specific retrieval condition or fixation sensitivity; avoid explaining a negative section by a claimed target-specific masking effect. |
| Situation | Likely cause | Next action |
|---|---|---|
| Known-positive kidney tubules are blank or barely stained (HPA tissue IHC). | The section may lack the intended tubules, or the IHC detection workflow may have failed (general IHC practice). The negative result alone does not identify a PPP1CA-specific fixation effect. | Confirm tubular morphology; check the IHC-validated antibody's instructions, retrieval, dilution, and detection controls on the same run (general IHC practice). |
| The whole section has a uniform brown haze, including areas without intact cells. | Background from the detection workflow can obscure cellular staining (general IHC practice). HPA reports a cellular nuclear and cytoplasmic profile (HPA tissue IHC). | Examine a no-primary control, then review blocking, wash stringency, and detection conditions before scoring PPP1CA (general IHC practice). |
| An HPA-listed undetected cell type stains more strongly than the intended positive population. | Cross-reactivity, endogenous detection activity, or misidentified cells could explain the discrepancy (general IHC practice); the HPA tissue pattern does not support that ranking (HPA tissue IHC). | Recheck morphology and the no-primary control; compare an independent IHC antibody if available, while keeping each antibody's HPA validation status distinct (general IHC practice; HPA antibodies). |
| The apparent signal is restricted to cell borders or nucleoli. | A compartment mismatch may reflect staining or scoring artefact (general IHC practice). UniProt describes mainly nuclear PPP1CA with relative nucleolar exclusion (UniProt P62136); HPA tissue IHC reports cytoplasmic and nuclear staining (HPA tissue IHC). | Inspect higher magnification and a counterstained control section; verify whether nucleoplasm and cytoplasm stain in HPA-listed positive cells before calling the pattern specific (HPA tissue IHC; general IHC practice). |
| A low or undetected HPA cell population is used as the only positive control. | Its reported staining level may be too low for a dependable run control: thyroid glandular cells are low and prostate glandular cells are not detected (HPA tissue IHC). | Include kidney tubules or rectal or small-intestinal glandular cells as a positive comparison, and score the named cell population rather than the entire tissue (HPA tissue IHC). |
| IF/ICC Q&A: Should fluorescence reproduce the paraffin-section pattern exactly? | HPA ICC-IF supports nucleoplasm and cytosol, labels plasma membrane uncertain, and also records additional sperm structures (HPA ICC-IF). Tissue IHC reports a broader nuclear and cytoplasmic profile (HPA tissue IHC). | Use the ICC-IF localization evidence to interpret IF images, including its uncertainty labels; assess paraffin-section IHC against the tissue-specific cell populations and compartments instead (HPA ICC-IF; HPA tissue IHC). |
Comprehensive Human Protein Atlas IHC scoring per tissue (reliability: Enhanced — Low consistency between antibody staining and RNA expression data.). Rows are taken directly from the HPA tissue chart — click any row's HPA link to view the source.
| Tissue | Cell type | Level | Evidence | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kidney | Cells in tubules | High | Protein (IHC) | HPA → |
| Rectum | Glandular cells | High | Protein (IHC) | HPA → |
| Small intestine | Glandular cells | High | Protein (IHC) | HPA → |
| Appendix | Glandular cells | Medium | Protein (IHC) | HPA → |
| Bronchus | Respiratory epithelial cells | Medium | Protein (IHC) | HPA → |
| Tissue | Cell type | Level | Evidence | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Adipose tissue | Adipocytes | Not detected | Protein (IHC) | HPA → |
| Breast | Adipocytes | Not detected | Protein (IHC) | HPA → |
| Fallopian tube | Glandular cells | Not detected | Protein (IHC) | HPA → |
| Lymph node | Germinal center cells | Not detected | Protein (IHC) | HPA → |
| Prostate | Glandular cells | Not detected | Protein (IHC) | HPA → |
Troubleshoot PPP1CA staining in paraffin sections by checking retrieval, compartment patterns, antibody specificity and matched controls before comparing signal across samples.
Both antibodies have IHC images from human paraffin sections (image captions). Both list Human, Mouse and Rat reactivity (catalog reactivity); only M02801 lists IF/ICC (catalog applications).
A02801-1 is shown in paraffin-embedded human breast carcinoma at 1:100 (A02801-1 image caption). M02801 is shown in paraffin-embedded human pancreas with citrate pH 6 retrieval and DAB detection (M02801 image caption).
Which to pick: For tissue IHC, choose A02801-1 for a PPP1CA-labeled antibody with a 1:50–1:200 catalog range; choose M02801 if a rabbit monoclonal that recognizes PPP1CA+PPP1CB suits the experiment (A02801-1 title, dilution and image caption; M02801 title, clone and image caption). For IF/ICC, choose M02801: it lists both applications and a 1:50 IF dilution, though its supplied figure is IHC (M02801 applications, dilution and image caption). Both list Human, Mouse and Rat reactivity, but their pictured IHC examples are human paraffin sections and neither caption reports the fixative (catalog reactivity; A02801-1 and M02801 image captions).