The gels were either stained with silver staining or proteins were transferred to polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) membrane. The blots prepared from the immunoprecipitates selleck screening library were

then probed using anti-pSyk antibodies and blots were developed using Millipore chemiluminscent substrate. After Western analysis, blots were stained with Coommasie blue R250 to ensure uniform protein loading. A total of 0·5 × 106 cells were treated with various stimuli and washed with cold PBS; cells were then fixed in 3% formaldehyde for 15 min at RT. Fixed cells were then permeabilized using 95% methanol for 30 min on ice and 10 min at −20°C. After washing, blocking was performed with 1% serum albumin (BSA) and 2·5% species-specific serum diluted in PBS at RT for 1 h. These cells were incubated further with the appropriate primary antibody at a dilution of 1 : 100 for 1 h at RT. For co-staining, a monoclonal antibody recognizing the FcγRIIIA/B and a rabbit polyclonal recognizing the pSyk was used

for staining. Subsequently cells were incubated with AlexaFluor® MK-2206 manufacturer 488- and 594-conjugated secondary anti-mouse and anti-rabbit at a dilution of 1 : 200 at RT for 1 h. Co-localization for FcγRIIIA/B with pSyk was carried out using Olympus FV-1000 software. Cells were examined from three fields in three experiments in all co-localization studies. Cells were examined at ×400 and ×630 magnification in fluorescent (Leica, DM400B) or confocal microscope (Olympus, FV-1000). In certain cases optical zoom was employed to gain access to cellular details. The SB-3CT staining for co-localization of FcγRIIIA/B and intracellular FcRγ chain was essentially carried out as described in the earlier section. All serial Z-series sections were included for the analysis (Olympus FV-1000, co-localization software). To co-localize the FcγRIIIA/B, FcγRIIIB with ICs or AHG, a 5 µg/ml of AlexaFlour 488–AHG was used prior to staining of cells with anti-FcγRIIIA/B monoclonal and/or anti-FcγRIIIB antibody. Percentage staining was calculated from three independent fields by enumerating total cells, cells stained with

anti-FcγRIIIA/B and anti-FcγRIIIB. Activated cells were washed with cold PBS and resuspended in 0·1% BSA–PBS. To 1 × 106 cells, a total of 0·2 µg of CTB conjugated with FITC was added and cells were incubated for 20 min in an ice bath. Thereafter, the cells were fixed and stained for FcγRIIIA/B and mounted using SlowFade Gold anti-fade reagent containing 4′,6-diamidino-2-phenylindole (DAPI) (Molecular Probes, Eugene, OR, USA) or without DAPI when using AlexaFluor® 350 conjugate. RT–PCR was performed on the total cellular RNA using the RNA isolation kit (Agilent Technologies, Santa Clara, CA, USA). Using a total of 200 ng of the RNA, the PCR product was generated using the Access RT–PCR system (Promega, Madison, WI, USA).