Services

Routine Histology (FFPE & Cryo-preserved samples)

Microscopic analysis of cells and tissues requires the preparation of thin, high quality sections mounted on glass slides and appropriately stained to demonstrate normal and abnormal structures.

Most fresh tissue is very delicate and easily distorted and damaged, and it is thus impossible to prepare thin sections from it unless it is chemically fixed and supported in some way whilst it is being cut. To overcome that, we have to prepare the tissues for histological study.

On our service, we can either process samples for microtomy or cryotomy and the choice of the appropriate method for organ collection, fixation and analysis can be discussed with our team.

For FFPE (formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded) samples, our routine histology combines a multi-step process that is performed on an automated tissue processor and has four main steps, namely: fixation, dehydration, clearing and wax infiltration. After those four steps, we carefully orientate all samples on an embedding centre in order to respect the chosen plane of section for each sample. Sections are then collected using a rotation microtome followed by an H&E staining performed on an automated staining platform.

For cryopreserved samples, we perform manually a multi-step procedure that combines fixation, infiltration and embedding with OCT or Gelatine. Sections are then collected using a cryostat and are H&E stained or delivered to our users.

Last updated: July 4, 2022