George, the absolutes, much like absolute alcohol would if left open,   have 
certainly evaporated. Borrowing from my total formalin fixation technique IHC 
lab, I have successfully and routinely stained skin biopsies as well as kidney 
biopsies with FITC conjugated antibodies after enzyme pretreatment with 
Protease 0.1%, 30 minutes@ 37C. The kidneys were fixed in Zamboni's fixative, the 
skin in Formalin, both paraffin processed.   The only "artefact" was a 
reduction in non-specific background staining. ( a plus in my book!)   In the kidney 
arena, we now prefer fixed tissue to fresh frozen.   J Coleman HT(ASCP)QIHC

we have found that overdehydration of small biopsies is the culprit. 
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