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Microwave fixation provides excellent preservation of tissue, cells and antigens for light and electron microscopy

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Summary

It was demonstrated that microwave energy used simultaneously in combination with low concentrations of glutaraldehyde (0.05%) and formaldehyde (2.0%) rapidly preserved light microscopic histology and excellent fine structural details, as well as a variety of cytoplasmic and membrane-bound antigens. Specimen blocks up to 1 cm3 can be fixed in as brief a time as 26 ms using a specially designed microwave device (ultrafast microwave fixation method). The fast microwave fixation method, using a commercially available device, was successfully used to preserve granule-bound rat mast cell chymase which was subsequently detected by a postembedding immunogold procedure. Control of the following parameters is important to the microwave fixation method: (1) specimens with one dimension less than 1 cm; (2) irradiation temperatures lower than 50°C; (3) irradiation times less than 50 s; (4) immediate replacement of the postirradiation solution with cold storage buffer; (5) fixing the specimen within 15 min after it is removed from its blood supply.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pathology, Beth Israel Hospital, Harvard School of Dental Medicine, and Harvard Medical School, 02215, Boston, Massachusetts, USA

    G. R. Login & Ann M. Dvorak

  2. Charles A. Dana Research Institute, Beth Israel Hospital, 02215, Boston, Massachusctts, USA

    G. R. Login & Ann M. Dvorak

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  1. G. R. Login
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  2. Ann M. Dvorak
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Login, G.R., Dvorak, A.M. Microwave fixation provides excellent preservation of tissue, cells and antigens for light and electron microscopy. Histochem J 20, 373–387 (1988). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01002732

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01002732

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