Abstract
Antisera to guinea pig insulin are not commonly available, largely because of the short supply and limited immunogenicity of the intact hormone. To overcome these problems we have employed a novel reagent, synthetic guinea pig insulin B-chain C-terminal decapeptide, as a hapten for raising antibodies that react with intact guinea pig insulin. The decapeptide, coupled to bovine serum albumin, was successfully used as an immunogen in rabbits. The resulting anti-serum was employed for immunocytochemical staining of guinea pig insulin in pancreatic sections. The specificity of the staining was verified by both pre-absorption and pre-immune serum controls. The utility of this new antiserum for investigations of guinea pig insulin physiology is discussed.