Methacarn's works especially well for nuclear antigens.

Lorraine Gibbs 
Physiology & Biophysics
UW

On Fri, 18 Aug 2000, Karen Larison wrote:

> I primarily do IHC on fixed frozen tissue, but I have found that 
> methacarn-fixed and/or Carnoys-fixed tissue works great with some 
> antibodies and not at all with others.  So my bets are that it won't 
> be a cure-all for eliminating the need for antigen-retrieval. 
> Nothing new here.  That's the nature of antibody work, ie you got to 
> tweak, tweak, tweak.
> 
> Karen in Oregon
> 
> 
> 
> >Date: Thu, 17 Aug 2000 14:07:56 -0400
> >From: "Philopena, Jennifer" <jennifer.philopena@canji.com>
> >Subject: Methacarn fixative
> >To: "'Histonet'" <histonet@pathology.swmed.edu>
> >
> >I've read that Methacarn is a methanol-Carnoy's fixative, Carnoy's
> >consisting of 6 parts ethanol, 3 parts chloroform, and one part glacial
> >acetic acid.  In methacarn does the methanol replace the ethanol?  Does
> >anyone have any more information on this fix?  History, recipe,
> >advantages/disadvantages, will using it as a fixative eliminate the need for
> >antigen retrieval (as I've seen in the literature)?  Thanks.  Jen
> >
> >
> >
> >Jennifer M. Philopena
> >Scientist 1
> >Canji, Inc.
> >3525 John Hopkins Court
> >San Diego, CA 92121
> >jennifer.philopena@canji.com
> 
> 
>