Histology

It is essential that all protocol-required tissues and gross lesions are accounted for and that tissues are trimmed and placed in cassettes in a consistent manner. The trimmed specimens are placed in plastic cassettes, each labeled with the correct CID number and the cassette number for the tissues contained. The tissue is placed in cassettes based on the protocol specific embedding scheme and TPA Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs.)

Fully automated closed processing units are used. A variety of custom processing schedules allows for excellent processing of an array of tissues including tiny organoids and large dense tissues.

Ensuring consistency, tissues are embedded following a tissue embedding scheme specific for each protocol and in accordance with TPA SOPs. Tissues may be oriented in paraffin, water-soluble glycols, resins or glycol methacrylate.

TPA is proficient in sectioning of frozen tissue, paraffin and glycol methacrylate embedded tissues. The rotary microtome is used for routine applications. TPA also has the capabilities of using automated, sliding and cryostat sectioning.

Routine staining capabilities include  hematoxylin and eosin, periodic acid shiff and toludine blue staining. Staining is routinely completed using an automated stainer followed by glass coverslipping. TPA has a vast array of techniques in addition to the routine nuclear and cytoplasmic staining. Special staining may be performed both manually or on an automated stainer.