I agree whole heartedly with Gayle's note below, especially with the GMA
comment.  Can't tell ya how many gray hairs I've gotten with that stuff
and IHC.  I would also recommend the papers by Tobias I. Baskin in
Planta (1992) 187: 405-413, Plant Physiology (1997) 113: 493-502 and
especially his article in the Journal of Microscopy, Vol. 182, May 1996,
pp. 149-161 "Cryofixing single cells and multicellular specimens
enhances structure and immunocytochemistry for light microscopy".  While
these articles are about Plant tissues the methods are applicable to
animal tissues also ( I know, I tried, and it worked fine).

Gayle Callis wrote:
> 
> I think this has been discussed, with lots in the archives, but GMA is more
> difficult to get good IHC staining, since it cannot be removed once polymerized.  Check out
> Neil Hands article in J of HIstotechnology, 21(3)1998, he did methyl
> methacrylate, totally removable, and stringent antigen retrieval.
> 
> He has a panel of 200 or so antibodies done this way, elegant and very useful
> for plastic aficiandos.  MMA is no more difficult to work with than GMA,
> depending on the tissue, bone cuts better with tungsten carbibe knives.  Have
> seen his slides, really wonderful staining! and was impressed it could be done
> by removing MMA with warm xylene.
> 
> Hoods are a must!
> 
> Gayle Callis

-- 
best regards,
Bob
Robert Schoonhoven
Laboratory of Molecular Carcinogenesis and Mutagenesis
Dept. of Environmental Sciences and Engineering
University of North Carolina
CB#7400
Chapel Hill, NC 27599
Phone 
office 919-966-6343
   Lab 919-966-6140
   Fax 919-966-6123 

Don't go around saying the world owes you a living; the world owes you
nothing; it was here first. 
Mark Twain [Samuel Langhornne Clemens] (1835-1910)