title: Expression microdissection adapted to commercial laser dissection instruments.
abstract: Laser-based microdissection facilitates the isolation of specific cell populations from clinical or animal model tissue specimens for molecular analysis. Expression microdissection (xMD) is a second-generation technology that offers considerable advantages in dissection capabilities; however, until recently the method has not been accessible to investigators. This protocol describes the adaptation of xMD to commonly used laser microdissection instruments and to a commercially available handheld laser device in order to make the technique widely available to the biomedical research community. The method improves dissection speed for many applications by using a targeting probe for cell procurement in place of an operator-based, cell-by-cell selection process. Moreover, xMD can provide improved dissection precision because of the unique characteristics of film activation. The time to complete the protocol is highly dependent on the target cell population and the number of cells needed for subsequent molecular analysis.
authors.affiliation: Laser Microdissection Core, Laboratory of Pathology, Center for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, USA.
authors.forename: Jeffrey C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Hanson
authors.forename: Michael A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Tangrea
authors.forename: Skye
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Michael D
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Armani
authors.forename: Thomas J
authors.initials: TJ
authors.lastname: Pohida
authors.forename: Robert F
authors.initials: RF
authors.lastname: Bonner
authors.forename: Jaime
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Rodriguez-Canales
authors.forename: Michael R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Emmert-Buck
mesh_terms: D002469:Cell Separation; D005455:Fluorescent Antibody Technique; D007150:Immunohistochemistry / Q000379:methods; D007834:Lasers; D042282:Microdissection / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D011145:Polyvinyls / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D011145:Polyvinyls; C016438:ethylenevinylacetate copolymer