Technique. A test or technique in which one or other component of an immunological reaction is made fluorescent by coupling with a fluorochrome such as fluorescein, phycoerythrin or rhodamine so that the occurrence of the reaction can be detected as a fluorescing antigen-antibody complex. Used in microscopy to localise small amounts of antigen or specific antibody. This entry appears with permission from the Dictionary of Cell and Molecular Biology. direct immunofluorescence using an anti-IgA antibody. The skin is from a patient with Henoch-Schonlein purpura: IgA deposits are found in the walls of small superficial capillaries (yellow arrows). The pale wavy green area on top is the epidermis, the bottom fibrous area is the dermis.]] Immunofluorescence is a technique used for light microscopy with a fluorescence microscope and is used primarily on microbiological samples. This technique uses the specificity of antibodies to their antigen to target fluorescent dyes to specific biomolecule targets within a cell, and therefore allows visualisation of the distribution of the target molecule through the sample. Immunofluorescence is a widely used example of immunostaining and is a specific example of immunohistochemistry that makes use of fluorophores to visualise the location of the antibodies. Immunofluorescence can be used on tissue sections, cultured cell lines, or individual cells, and may be used to analyse the distribution of proteins, glycans, and small biological and non-biological molecules. Immunofluoresence can be used in combination with other, non-antibody methods of fluorescent staining, for example, use of DAPI to label DNA. Several microscope designs can be used for analysis of immunofluorescence samples; the simplest is the epifluorescence microscope, and the confocal microscope is also widely used. Various super-resolution microscope designs that are capable of much higher resolution can also be used. An OSH glossary used in safety and health at work which is, adopted by ILO