An improved, rapid Northern protocol

We report a simple, sensitive and rapid method for performing Northern blotting analysis which avoids the use of toxic: chemicals such as formamide and glyoxal. This technique allows sensitive detection of various transcripts from total RNA samples varying from 10 mu g to 2.5 mu g. These samples were probed for GAPDH and VCAM mRNA message using this technique and show similar results as conventional Northern blotting methods. In addition, this protocol can be accomplished much :Faster than the traditional formamide/formaldehyde or glyoxal protocols. This protocol can be easily implemented by most laboratories using inexpensive and reagents less toxic than those commonly used for RNA analysis. (C) 1997 Academic Press.