3.04 - Tissue Preparation for Microscopy and Histology

Abstract

Technical competence exerts a substantial influence on morphological assessment. This chapter provides an overview of morphological analysis for laboratory technologists and advanced students in medicine and biology. The focus is on two major issues of tissue preparation for morphology, namely appropriate tissue preparation and processing, in routine paraffin section (fixation, dehydration, and impregnation), frozen section, and electron microscopy. A variety of common techniques are discussed, including routine hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) stain, special stains (histochemical staining), immunohistochemical staining, DNA/RNA hybridization in situ, and electron microscopy. The authors introduce not only principal chemical/biochemical theories, but also technical essentials in these techniques. The high-throughput tissue microarray technique is also briefly reviewed. Initial tissue processing is critical for morphology analysis, particularly for molecular analysis such as immunohistochemical staining and DNA/RNA hybridization in situ.