¹Department of Pathology, Faculty of Medicine, Toyama Medical and Pharmaceutical University, Sugitani, Toyama, Japan

Correspondence: Dr K Tsuneyama, MD, PhD, Department of Pathology, Faculty of Medicine, Toyama Medical and Pharmaceutical University, 2630 Sugitani, Toyama 930-0194, Japan. E-mail: ktsune@ms.toyama-mpu.ac.jp

Received 3 October 2003; Revised 20 December 2003; Accepted 22 December 2003; Published online 28 May 2004.

Abstract

Immunostaining depending on antigen–antibody specificity is the commonest approach for determining the localization of specific antigens in tissue sections. This procedure is applicable not only with frozen or specially fixed samples, but also has proved reliable with formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded tissue sections through improvement of antigen-retrieval. Immunostaining is thus firmly established as a tool for diagnostic pathology and in our institute multiple antibodies are applied for 13–15% of the cases examined, as well as H&E staining. With the standard approach, approximately 3 h is necessary from the beginning of deparaffinization till covering sections with the Envision system. We utilized intermittent microwave irradiation for 10 min during hybridization with primary and secondary antibodies in a special moist-chamber, to achieve all immunostaining steps within 1 h in 178 primary antibodies frequently used for diagnostic pathology. According to our 5 years experience, such microwave irradiation not only obtained significant specific staining for enhancing the specificity of antigen–antibody reactions, but also inhibited nonspecific binding. We present herein the details of the methodology and recommendations for its application with particular primary antibodies. This method can contribute to savings in time and energy, allowing pathologists to rapidly obtain diagnostic information.