The influence of various fixatives on the immunohistochemical demonstration of a number of plasma proteins and oncofetal proteins in paraffin embedded material.
The influence of different fixatives on the antigenicity of alpha-fetoprotein (AFP), albumin, prealbumin, transferrin, ferritin, human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG), specific pregnancy beta 1-glycoprotein (SP1) and human placental lactogen (HPL) was studied. No single fixative was superior for all the antigens investigated. For intracellular antigens the best all-around fixatives were, however, 10% buffered formalin, 4% buffered paraformaldehyde, 10% formol-calcium and ethanol acetic acid (EA), cold processed. The preferable fixatives were for AFP: Bouińs fixative, B-5 and EA; for albumin: 10% formol-calcium; for prealbumin: Zambonis fixative and B-5; for transferrin: EA; for ferritin: 10% buffered formalin, 4% buffered paraformaldehyde, Lilliés fixative, Zambonis fixative and EA; for HCG: Bouińs fixative and B-5; for SP1: Lilliés fixative and EA; and for HPL: 4% buffered paraformaldehyde and Lilliés fixative. The preservation of extracellular antigens was different from the above mentioned intracellular ones. Thus fixation in 10% buffered formalin gave poor results while the coagulant fixatives such as Bouińs fixative, B-5 and Clelands fixative in general showed good preservation of the antigenicity of the extracellular antigens.
D000951:Antigens, Neoplasm / Q000032:analysis*; D001798:Blood Proteins / Q000032:analysis*; D006063:Chorionic Gonadotropin / Q000032:analysis; D005260:Female; D005404:Fixatives; D006652:Histological Techniques; D006801:Humans; D008099:Liver / Q000032:analysis / Q000196:embryology; D010920:Placenta / Q000032:analysis; D010928:Placental Lactogen / Q000032:analysis; D011228:Prealbumin / Q000032:analysis; D011247:Pregnancy; D011268:Pregnancy-Specific beta 1-Glycoproteins / Q000032:analysis; D012709:Serum Albumin / Q000032:analysis; D014168:Transferrin / Q000032:analysis; D000509:alpha-Fetoproteins / Q000032:analysis
D000951:Antigens, Neoplasm; D001798:Blood Proteins; D006063:Chorionic Gonadotropin; D005404:Fixatives; D011228:Prealbumin; D011268:Pregnancy-Specific beta 1-Glycoproteins; D012709:Serum Albumin; D014168:Transferrin; D000509:alpha-Fetoproteins; C031192:oncofetal antigens; D010928:Placental Lactogen