Immunofluorescence AND Immunocytochemistry
Immunohistochemistry, immunocytochemistry, and immunofluorescence are the three most classic experimental techniques in immunology, known as Immunohistochemistry (IHC), Immunocytochemistry (ICC), and Immunofluorescence (IF). For experimenters, it may be easy to confuse.
Immunohistochemistry (IHC) and immunocytochemistry (ICC) are mainly techniques used to locate and detect antigen expression, and their main principle is to utilize the interaction between antigen epitopes and antibodies. IHC samples use tissue slices, while ICC samples use cultured cells.
IF stands for Immunofluorescence, which literally includes ICC and fluorescence based IHC. However, in the manuals of major antibody companies (abcam, CST, Novus, etc.), the meaning of IF is equivalent to ICC.
IHC immunohistochemistry can be further divided into IHC-P paraffin section immunohistochemistry and IHC-Fr frozen section immunohistochemistry based on the type of sample slice.