  Protein detection methods after electrophoresis have to be sensitive,
homogeneous, and not to impair downstream analysis of proteins by MS. Speed,
low cost, and user friendliness are also favored features. Silver staining
combines many of these features, but its compatibility with MS is limited. We
describe here, a new variant of silver staining that is completely
formaldehyde-free. Reducing sugars in alkaline borate buffer are used as
developers. While keeping the benefits of silver staining, this method is shown
to afford a much better performance in terms of compatibility with MS, both in
PMF by MALDI and in LC/ESI/MS/MS.
