title: Tissue fixation and the effect of molecular fixatives on downstream staining procedures.
abstract: It is impossible to underplay the importance of fixation in histopathology. Whether the scientist is interested in the extraction of information on lipids, proteins, RNA or DNA, fixation is critical to this extraction. This review aims to give a brief overview of the current "state of play" in fixation and focus on the effect fixation, and particularly the effect of the newer brand of "molecular fixatives" have on morphology, histochemistry, immunohistochemistry and RNA/DNA analysis. A methodology incorporating the creation of a fixation tissue microarray for the study of the effect of fixation on histochemistry is detailed.
authors.affiliation: Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute, University of Cambridge, Li Ka Shing Centre, Cambridge CB2 0RE, UK. Electronic address: will.howat@cruk.cam.ac.uk.
authors.forename: William J
authors.initials: WJ
authors.lastname: Howat
authors.affiliation: Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute, University of Cambridge, Li Ka Shing Centre, Cambridge CB2 0RE, UK.
authors.forename: Beverley A
authors.initials: BA
authors.lastname: Wilson
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D003432:Cross-Linking Reagents / Q000737:chemistry; D004247:DNA / Q000737:chemistry; D005404:Fixatives / Q000737:chemistry; D005557:Formaldehyde / Q000737:chemistry; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008055:Lipids / Q000737:chemistry; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D016612:Paraffin Embedding; D011506:Proteins / Q000737:chemistry; D012313:RNA / Q000737:chemistry; D013194:Staining and Labeling / Q000379:methods*; D013696:Temperature; D046888:Tissue Array Analysis; D016707:Tissue Fixation / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D003432:Cross-Linking Reagents; D005404:Fixatives; D008055:Lipids; D011506:Proteins; D005557:Formaldehyde; D012313:RNA; D004247:DNA
keywords: Histochemistry; Molecular fixatives; Tissue fixation; Tissue microarray