Rapid microwave fixation of human tissues for light microscopic immunoperoxidase identification of diagnostically useful antigens.

Microwave (MW) energy permits rapid tissue fixation for light and electron microscopy but its effects on antigen preservation have not been fully evaluated. We, therefore, fixed three samples of human skin, uterus, and cervix, and two samples of human colon and breast by MW irradiation (5 to 8 seconds) during simultaneous immersion in a dilute aldehyde mixture (2% formaldehyde and 0.05% glutaraldehyde). For comparison, similar portions of each specimen were fixed in formalin. Specimens were processed routinely and embedded in paraffin for light microscopy. Sections from each specimen were stained with hematoxylin and eosin and, by immunoperoxidase techniques, for epithelial membrane antigen, leukocyte common antigen, S-100 keratin, carcinoembryonic antigen, and factor VIII-related antigen, the latter three with and without preliminary trypsinization. Colon sections were also stained for chromogranin. In all cases, light microscopic morphology was comparable for tissues fixed by the MW method and formalin-fixed specimens, as was immunostaining for epithelial membrane antigen, leukocyte common antigen, S-100 protein, and chromogranin. Formalin-fixed tissues required trypsinization for optimal detection of keratin, carcinoembryonic antigen, and factor VIII-related antigen. In contrast, trypsin-pretreatment was not necessary to demonstrate these antigens in MW-fixed specimens and, in fact, resulted in tissue digestion. We conclude that this MW fixation method provides a means for rapidly fixing tissues for immunoperoxidase staining while preserving excellent light microscopic morphology.