We've been trying other alternatives to the standard TUNEL assay.  Trevigen puts
out a nice TUNEL assay kit which  utilizes a
brominated nucleotide (BrdU) which is more efficiently incorporated by
TdT than biotinylated nucleotides at sites of DNA fragmentation.  It worked
quite well in my initial studies, and was more specific than the Integren
TUNEL. We've also started  doing some work-ups of the Caspase 3 polyclonal
antibody from Cell Signalling.

Histo-Scientific Research Laboratories wrote:

> Dear Histonetters,
>
> We have a researcher that had sheep myocardial tissue that upon necropsy he
> put in 70%ETOH.  When he went to do his TUNEL staining, he noted nonspecific
> staining rendering his project useless.  Would he be able to 1) cut sections
> from the processed tissue and post-fix the slides in formalin or
> paraformaldehyde to make his stain work?  2) If not, could he take the
> remaining wet tissue that is currently in 70%ETOH and put it in a fixative
> then process as normal and get results with his TUNEL staining?   Your help
> is greatly appreciated.
>
> Sincerely,
>
> Tom Galati
> Histology Laboratory Director
> HSRL- A GLP Compliant Contract Laboratory
> 137 S. Main Street
> Woodstock, VA  22664
> (540)459-8211
> fax: (540)459-8217
> tomgalati@hsrl.org
> www.hsrl.org