Paraffin Sections

All paraffin embedded tissue is cut at a thickness of 3µm. Thicker sections make morphological assessment much more difficult. The sections are floated on a warm water bath (45 o C), before being picked up onto microscope slides and allowed to drain. Sections for tinctorial staining are placed on a hot plate (56 o C) for 15 minutes before staining. Sections for immunocytochemical staining are picked up on aminopropyltriethoxysilane (APES) coated slides and dried overnight in an incubator at 37 o C.

A haematoxylin and eosin (H&E) stained section is cut from each paraffin block. After initial examination of the H&E section either additional tinctorial stains (Gordon and Sweet's reticulin stain) or specific panels of immunocytochemical markers are performed.