Formalin-Fixed Paraffin Embedded (FFPE) Tissue Preservation: A Method for Studying Tissue Morphology

Abstract

Source: Nagaraj A.S., et al., Establishment and Analysis of Tumor Slice Explants As a Prerequisite for Diagnostic Testing. J. Vis. Exp. (2018)

The following video describes how to preserve morphology of a tissue with formalin fixation and paraffin embedding.

Protocol

1. Fixation and Processing of the Tissue Slices Carefully lift the uncultured 0 h reference or cultured slice onto a filter paper soaked in PBS. To do this, add 2-3 mL of PBS on top of a filter paper placed in a 10 cm plate. Place the slice on top of the filter paper and lift out the filter paper using a pair of forceps. Transfer the filter paper into a histocassette, and add a drop of diluted hematoxylin (1:1 in deionized water) on top of the tissue slice to visibly mark the position o…

Representative Results

Figure 1: Schematic representation of the workflow for establishment and analysis of murine NSCLC tumor-derived slice explants. (A) Schematic describing the collection and preparation of tumor-bearing lungs for slicing. Lung lobes are harvested from a mouse and tumor tissue is dissected away from normal tissue. The black arrowhead and asterisk indicate approximately 4 mm and…

Materials

10 cm tissue culture plate	Sarstedt	83.1802
PBS	Lonza	BE17-517Q
Formaldehyde	Fisher	F/1501/PB08
Trifold histo cassette paper	Cancer Diagnostics	DX26280
Histo cassettes	VWR	720-2199
Microtome	Thermo Fischer Scientific	HM355S
Leica VT1200 S vibrating blade microtome	Leica Biosystems	14048142066
Hematoxylin for H&E staining	Merck	1.09249.0500
Hematoxylin for counter staining	Dako	S3309
Eosin	Sigma	E4382
Hank’s Balanced salt solution (HBSS)	Sigma	H6648