Does anyone have experience on both X-ray film development and western blot documentation system, who could comment on which method excels the other as a better way to detect and document the Western blot?
H Yuan, we do not currently perform a lot of western blots. However I have used both X-ray film and a chemiluminescence system in the past. I found thechemiluminescence system much superior in both terms of background and development time.The system I used was the odyssey system: http://www.licor.com/bio/products/imaging_systems/odyssey/
which I highly recommend (also images can b saved directly to computer for image analysis).
I hope this helps
Gary
Hi Gary, your answer does help. Appreciate your responsiveness to my question.
Hi Gary,
We encountered a situation where a journal editor requested the X-ray film for a verification of the Western results that we reported in our manuscript. Does the chemiluminescence system generate results that are acceptable as well as the X-ray film for publication?
Thanks.
Hi Yuan - it should do as the image is generally documented/saved onto a computer (we have published Western blot images from these devices as have many others).
So as long as you have the raw image data it should be fine (and to be quite honest if someone wanted to falsify results this could even be done with X-ray film using a radioactive pen or running samples that aren't what you say they are!).
I would suggest however that after developing the chemiluminescence you wrap the blot in cling film and store it at 4oC until after publication (just in case).
Unfortunately I can't give a definite answer to your question as I have never encountered the situation you mention ( a journal asking for the original X-ray film).
Sorry I can't be more help - perhaps once you have chosen a particular system (and before buying it) you could ask the company supplying the device this question - hopefully they should be able to give you a more definite answer!
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