Glycol Methacrylate for Routine, Special Stains, Histochemistry, Enzyme Histochemistry and Immunohistochemistry: A Simplified Cold Method for Surgical Biopsy Tissue

Abstract

A method of preparing surgical pathology bone marrow, lymph node, and kidney biopsies for glycol methacrylate embedding, while preserving enzymes and antigenicity in each tissue biopsy block, is described. Biopsy tissues are fixed in cold phosphate buffered formalin at pH 7.3, rinsed in cold phosphate buffer, dehydrated, infiltrated and embedded in cold glycol methacrylate, then polymerized at 4°C. Sections are cut at 1–2 pm in thickness with disposable blades or glass knives. Room temperature drying of sections and slides preserves enzymes. Antigenicity is preserved when drying slides at room temperature but, due to section removal during fluorescence staining, it is necessary to incubate slides at 37°C. This technic has proved to be a valuable tool in diagnostic biopsy work.