The application of heated detergent dewaxing and rehydration to immunohistochemistry

Abstract

Hot commercial dishwashing detergent has been used to deparaffinize and hydrate formalin fixed, paraffin embedded sections for immunohistochemistry. Fifty-five antibodies, used routinely for diagnosis, were used to compare hot detergent dewaxing with the proprietary hydrocarbon-based dewaxing reagent supplied with the Bond Max immunohistochemistry system^®. A 2% concentration of commercial dishwashing detergent in distilled water was heated to 90° C and paraffin sections were treated twice for 1 min each. Nearly all antibodies gave equivalent results except CD10 and CD57 (hydrocarbon-based dewaxing better) and CD45 and alpha fetoprotein (detergent dewaxing better); the differences, however, were minimal. There also was a significant cost saving using detergent dewaxing.

Key words::

• immunohistochemistry
• detergent dewaxing
• xylene-free

Acknowledgment

I thank Rene Buesa for his support and advice during the preparation of this manuscript.

Declaration of interest: The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.