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Self-made tissue punches can be effectively used to punch holes in blank recipient paraffin blocks and extract tissue cores from the donor paraffin blocks for the low-cost construction of tissue microarrays (TMAs). However, variable degrees of section distortion and loss of the tissue cores can occurs during cutting of the TMAs, posing technical problems for in-house manual construction of high-density TMAs. We aimed to update the method for in-house manual TMA construction to improve the quality of high-density TMAs.
Blocks of agarose gel were subjected to the standard tissue processing and embedding procedure to prepare recipient agarose-paraffin blocks. The self-made tissue punches and recipient agarose-paraffin blocks were used to construct TMAs, which were completely melted and re-embedded in paraffin to make finished TMA blocks.
The donor tissue cores were completely integrated into the surrounding paraffin of the recipient blocks. This method enabled us to construct high-density TMAs with significantly less section distortion or loss of tissue cores during microtomy.
Simple and inexpensive construction of high-density and high-quality TMAs can be warranted by using paraffinized agarose gels as recipient blocks.
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Advances of tissue microarray (TMA) technology have enabled simultaneous
Ordinary cannula piercing needles, hypodermic needles, bone marrow biopsy needles, metallic ink cartridges of ballpoint pens, and disposable skin biopsy punches were used to construct self-made manual TMA kits. The recipient blocks were manufactured by boring holes in the conventional bare paraffin blocks. A mini electric hand drill and a microcompound table assembled on a drill stand were used to maximize the capacity of the recipient blocks.
By using TMA kits made from cannula piercing needles (16- and 18-gauge), it was possible to construct TMAs with 1 mm×140 cores, 0.6 mm×320 cores, 2 mm×70 cores, 3 mm×35 cores, and 5 mm×12 cores. The capacity of the recipient blocks could be dramatically increased by drilling holes.
Construction of TMAs using self-made TMA kits is an inexpensive alternative to construction of TMAs using commercial devices.
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