Vol. 6, Issue 7 (2017)

Author(s):
Wala Eldin Elradi, Abdelrahim Mudathir, Badreldin Yousif and Haala Gabra Butrous

Abstract:
Immunohistochemistry (IHC) is an integral part of diagnostic pathology. Tissue microarray (TMA) technology is based on the idea of applying miniaturization and a high throughput approach to the analysis of intact tissues. TMA are composite paraffin blocks constructed by extracting cylindrical tissue core “biopsies” from different paraffin donor blocks and re-embedding these into a single recipient (microarray) block at defined array coordinates. However, its productivity has been restricted due to the confined thickness of traditional patient or donor block. Here, we use a high output TMA method that is applicable to a broader range of tissue samples. In this method, a 2 cm long and 2 cm wide recipient block with 36 square lattices (2 mm in width) was first prepared using several commercial tools. A 2 mm wide and 6 mm long tissue rod was then prepared using tissue steel needle from each paraffin embedded patient block of burkitt lymphoma tumors. These rods were manually arrayed one by one into the corresponding lattices of the 60°C pre-softened recipient block with the guide of holes. A 24 -rod TMA was made in this method.The prepared TMA had well defined array configurations, good tissue morphology. A total of 36 TMA sections could be easily obtained from a TMA block. This low-cost and time-saving method provides a sampling tool for high output TMA.