Increasing the sensitivity of protein detection of a silver stain for agarose gels

A silver staining method is described for increasing the sensitivity of protein detection in agarose gels. Following electrophoresis, the gels are first stained with Coomassie Brilliant Blue R‐250, then washed with glutaraldehyde and finally silver stained. Using this double‐stain method, protein detection was 100 times more sensitive than Coomassie Blue staining alone and 10 times more sensitive than when silver staining was used alone.