A new method for physical disector analyses of numbers and mean volumes of immunohistochemically labelled cells in paraffin sections

The morphologic pathologist may require information on the ultrastructure of a non-specific lesion seen under the light microscope before he can make a specific determination. Such lesions, when caused by infectious disease agents, may be sparsely distributed in any organ system. Tissue culture systems, too, may only have widely dispersed foci suitable for ultrastructural study. In these situations, when only a few, small foci in large tissue areas are useful for electron microscopy, it is advantageous to employ a methodology which rapidly selects a single tissue focus that is expected to yield beneficial ultrastructural data from amongst the surrounding tissue. This is in essence what "LIFTING" accomplishes. We have developed LIFTING to a high degree of accuracy and repeatability utilizing the Microlift (Fig 1), and have successfully applied it to tissue culture monolayers, histologic paraffin sections, and tissue blocks with large surface areas that had been initially fixed for either light or electron microscopy.

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In situ microprobe quantitation of inorganic particle burden in paraffin sections of lung tissue

Proceedings, annual meeting, Electron Microscopy Society of America ◽

10.1017/s0424820100107010 ◽

1988 ◽

Vol 46 ◽

pp. 990-991

Author(s):

Jerrold L. Abraham

Keyword(s):

Lung Tissue ◽

Quantitative Information ◽

Particulate Material ◽

Paraffin Sections ◽

Tissue Samples ◽

Qualitative And Quantitative ◽

The Past ◽

Quantitative Analyses ◽

Data Result

Inorganic particulate material of diverse types is present in the ambient and occupational environment, and exposure to such materials is a well recognized cause of some lung disease. To investigate the interaction of inhaled inorganic particulates with the lung it is necessary to obtain quantitative information on the particulate burden of lung tissue in a wide variety of situations. The vast majority of diagnostic and experimental tissue samples (biopsies and autopsies) are fixed with formaldehyde solutions, dehydrated with organic solvents and embedded in paraffin wax. Over the past 16 years, I have attempted to obtain maximal analytical use of such tissue with minimal preparative steps. Unique diagnostic and research data result from both qualitative and quantitative analyses of sections. Most of the data has been related to inhaled inorganic particulates in lungs, but the basic methods are applicable to any tissues. The preparations are primarily designed for SEM use, but they are stable for storage and transport to other laboratories and several other instruments (e.g., for SIMS techniques).

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Selective Sampling and Orientation of Non-Homogeneous Tissues

Proceedings, annual meeting, Electron Microscopy Society of America ◽

10.1017/s0424820100100238 ◽

1968 ◽

Vol 26 ◽

pp. 98-99

Author(s):

C. C. Clawson ◽

L. W. Anderson ◽

R. A. Good

Keyword(s):

Electron Microscopy ◽

Electron Microscope ◽

Light Microscopy ◽

Random Sampling ◽

New Method ◽

Microscope Examination ◽

Small Areas ◽

Selective Sampling ◽

Large Numbers ◽

Specific Orientation

Investigations which require electron microscope examination of a few specific areas of non-homogeneous tissues make random sampling of small blocks an inefficient and unrewarding procedure. Therefore, several investigators have devised methods which allow obtaining sample blocks for electron microscopy from region of tissue previously identified by light microscopy of present here techniques which make possible: 1) sampling tissue for electron microscopy from selected areas previously identified by light microscopy of relatively large pieces of tissue; 2) dehydration and embedding large numbers of individually identified blocks while keeping each one separate; 3) a new method of maintaining specific orientation of blocks during embedding; 4) special light microscopic staining or fluorescent procedures and electron microscopy on immediately adjacent small areas of tissue.

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