Microwave Technology in Immunohistochemistry: Application to Avidin-Biotin Staining of Diverse Antigens

Abstract

Microwave technology has been used in numerous areas of pathology and research. Applications have been developed for special and routine stains and a limited number for immunostaining. In this report, microwave enhanced immunohistochemical staining in the standard avidin-biotin methodology is demonstrated for fourteen diverse antigens. Staining of paraffin or frozen sections was achieved for actin, desmin, GFAP, HCG, IgA, IgG, IgM, insulin, kappa and lambda light chains, myoglobin, prostatic acid phosphatase, S-100 and vimentin. No single procedural step exceeded 5 minutes, and some incubations were reduced to as little as 10 seconds. The entire immunohistochemical staining procedure can be completed in 10–30 minutes with results that parallel conventional methods. (The J of Histotechnol 12:95, 1989)

Keywords:

• avidin-biotin
• immunohistochemistry
• immunostaining
• microwave