Modification of Brain Processing Techniques: Tissue Embedding in Glycol Methacrylate and Stain Modifications

Abstract

Increased interest in quantitation of the histopathological changes in a variety of neurological disorders (including neurodegenerative disease such as Alzheimer's disease) continues in an attempt to develop specific clinical-histopathological correlations. Most previous efforts at quantitation have used paraffin embedded sections of brain tissue, although plastic embedded sections have recently become a preferable alternative because they provide greatly reduced tissue shrinkage and distortion during processing, and greater clarity and improved resolution to the tissue sections. We have developed techniques for glycol methacrylate embedding and sectioning of brain tissue blocks on a standard histology laboratory microtome. In addition, we have modified routine diagnostic and investigational neurohistological stains for use in glycol methacrylate embedded brain sections, including hematoxylin and eosin, modified Bielschowsky stain, Jamarri silver technique, Einarson's Nissl stain, gallocyanin-Darrow red myelin stain, and the thioflavine-S-hematoxylin stain. The use of plastic embedded sections with appropriate stains will permit critical histopathological evaluation of nervous system tissue from patients with a variety of neurological disorders. (J Histotechnol 12:201, 1989)