| Background |
Digoxin/Digoxigenin (abbreviated as DIG) is a small steroidal hapten naturally extracted from Digitalis lanata, with a molecular weight of approximately 781 Da. It exclusively exists in plants of the genus Digitalis, and no endogenous homologous molecules are present in animal or human tissues, resulting in negligible tissue background interference. It serves as a core labeling reagent for non-radioactive nucleic acid detection systems.
This small molecule lacks inherent immunogenicity and cannot directly induce the production of specific antibodies in laboratory animals. It must be covalently conjugated to large carrier proteins such as KLH or BSA to form a complete immunogen for animal immunization, which stimulates B cells to secrete DIG-specific antibodies. The antibody recognizes both digoxin and digoxigenin due to their highly homologous structures, making them universal detection targets for probes used in in situ hybridization. |
