[Histonet] Old tissue blocks (Ni Nie)

[Carl Hobbs]

I agree that they are invaluable research/control material
I use > 15yr old Pwax blocks ( human, ms, rat, fly, chicken, goat .....) as such controls and have almost never been given false negatives in IF/IHC/dye-staining methods
Sure, occasionally there are false negatives
eg: in old post-mortem human brain blocks, the cut sections will fail, for me, using anti Ki67. However, if I use anti PCNA I get +ve results
One can argue that this  is because of the long ½ life of the latter/the habit of immersing the whole brain for extended periods before dissection to Pwax sized blocks, for processing
Also, one has to lose the 1st few superficial sections when re-cutting ( where there may be degradation of antigenicity)
Important request
Respect
Carl



Carl Hobbs FIBMS
Histology and Imaging Manager
Wolfson SPaRC
Guys Campus, London Bridge
Kings College London
London
SE1 1UL

020 7848 6810