Fast protein staining in sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel using counter ion-dyes, coomassie brilliant blue R-250 and neutral red

A fast and sensitive protein staining method in sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) using both an acidic dye, Coomassie Brilliant Blue R-250 (CBBR) and a basic dye, Neutral Red (NR) is described. It is based on a counter ion-dye staining technique that employs oppositely charged two dyes to form an ion-pair complex. The selective binding of the free dye molecules to proteins in an acidic solution enhances the staining effect of CBBR on protein bands, and also reduces gel background. It is a rapid staining procedure, involving fixing and staining steps with short destaining that are completed in about 1 h. As the result, it showed two to fourfold increase in sensitivity comparing with CBBR staining. The stained protein bands can be visualized at the same time of staining.