A modified technique to process peripheral nerves for light microscopy.

A new technique is described to fix, paraffin embed and cut routine peripheral nerve biopsies for light microscopy. Buffered glutaraldehyde pH 7.4 is used as a common fixative for both light and electron microscopy. The nerve bits for LM are embedded in paraffin using the 'reverse embedding' method and blocks are trimmed to cut sections on the ultra microtome using glass knives. The uniformly thin sections can be utilised for any special stain and the good resolution of these thin sections facilitates better observation and documentation.