Normalization protein for Western blots?

[Peter Frank]

Hi,

when performing semi-quantitative analysis of Western blots, it is
supposed to be a good idea to use a normalization protein, i.e. a
protein that is generally not regulated. I heard beta-actin is not a
good choice.

a) Can you recommend a good normalization protein for use with
semi-quantitative analysis of Western blots? (This also means that
appropriate antibodies should be commercially available.)

b) In order to perform the normalization, the Western blots will have
to be stripped and reprobed with the antibody for the normalization
protein. Can you recommend a good stripping procedure for Western
blots? I tried stripping in 0.2 M NaOH for 30 min at room temperature
and it didn't work very well. I did not let the blots dry out. But the
overall background was rather high after the reprobing and the
reprobing efficiency was lousy compared to a first-time probing.

Regards,
Peter