Microwave irradiation of paraffin-embedded tissue sensitizes the TUNEL method for in situ detection of apoptotic cells

Apoptosis is a morphologically distinct form of programmed cell death that plays an important role in the growth regulation of a variety of tissues and also in the elimination of self-reacting immunocompetent cells. Several techniques for the qualitative and quantitative detection of this process ha...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Histochemistry and Cell Biology 1995-02, Vol.103 (2), p.157-160
Main Authors: Str ter, J rn, G nthert, Andreas R., Br derlein, Silke, M ller, Peter
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Apoptosis - physiology
DNA Damage
DNA Nucleotidylexotransferase - metabolism
Humans
Immunohistochemistry - methods
Infant
Intestinal Mucosa - anatomy & histology
Intestinal Mucosa - innervation
Microwaves
Paraffin Embedding
Thymus Gland - anatomy & histology
Thymus Gland - innervation
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Apoptosis is a morphologically distinct form of programmed cell death that plays an important role in the growth regulation of a variety of tissues and also in the elimination of self-reacting immunocompetent cells. Several techniques for the qualitative and quantitative detection of this process have been established; recently, an in situ nick end-labelling technique based on the detection of DNA fragmentation, which is a molecular characteristic of apoptotic cell death, was described. Applying this method to paraffin sections of human tissues, sensitivity was observed to be inconsistently low with regard to the expected number of apoptotic cells. In the present study we show that irradiation of the tissue sections in 10 mM citrate buffer, pH 6.0, by microwaves at 750 W considerably enhances the sensitivity of this nick end-labelling technique.
ISSN:0948-6143
0301-5564
1432-119X
DOI:10.1007/bf01454013