RE: ER

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From:"Johnson, Mickey" <JohnsoM@shmc.org>
To:"'carolyn.luty@muhc.mcgill.ca'" <carolyn.luty@muhc.mcgill.ca>, histonet@pathology.swmed.edu
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Hi Carolyn,
I am not sure if this is germane in your case, but we have found that
underfixed breast specimens can be easily over antigen retrieved.  This is
most noticeable when thick sections are put in the cassette for processing.
You can se circles of weak staining in regular rows across the section
corresponding with the holes in the cassette.  This is becoming more widely
known. Antigen retrieval cleaves methylene bridges produced by formalin
fixation and antigen retrieval will actually destroy antigen of underfixed
tissue elements. Tissues which are primarily fixed by the alcohol on the
machine, will also react this way. Hope this helps. Good Luck.

Mickie

Michael L Johnson, BS, HTL(ASCP)
Histology Supervisor
Department of Pathology
Sacred Heart Medical Center
W. 101 8th Avenue
Spokane, WA 99220

johnsom@shmc.org


-----Original Message-----
From: carolyn.luty@muhc.mcgill.ca [mailto:carolyn.luty@muhc.mcgill.ca]
Sent: Wednesday, July 19, 2000 11:56 AM
To: histonet@pathology.swmed.edu
Subject: ER




We are having problems with very weak staining with ER. We use antigen
retrieval
in citrate buffer in the microwave.The antibody was from Nova-Castra and
then we
tried one from Biogenex with the same results. Can anyone give any
suggestions
??.

Carolyn Luty
Montreal General Hospital





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