Frozen tissue array is a methodology that is used in modern molecular and clinical research to analyze hundreds of tumor samples on a single slide. It allows a high throughput analysis of proteins and genes in a huge unit. It consists of frozen tissues where separate tissue cores are lumped together to allow simultaneous histological analysis. It has made it easy to streamline several research projects thus saving significant time. It also conserves precious reagents for analysis numerous slides that contain a single section per slide. It is an ideal screening tool that is used before
embarking on extensive research and analysis.
Preparation of frozen tissue array
Each product is produced using the state-of-the-art preparation technique by the use of the finest quality specimens. Upon excision, the tissues are then placed in liquid nitrogen and then sorted meticulously by an expert pathologist. Cores from 20 different tissues or more or with pathologically relevant tumors are then combined in a single block. With the use of unique staining methods, the quality of each
slide is selected. Tissues with a diameter of 2 mm from the region of interest
are sorted from frozen tissue OCT blocks by varying their freezing temperatures, see more here.
Features of frozen tissue array
Every product is designed to conform to the FDA guidelines and must meet the requirements of therapeutic antibody validation and vitro diagnostic device certification. There is a vast range of tissues in every array. The technique is suitable for both radioactive and non-radioactive detection. It combines arrays from variety human donors. Compared to paraffin-embedded tissues, frozen array tissue contains better antigen exposure.
Frozen Tissue array applications
The technique has been employed in various areas such:
- Rapid screening of protein expression or novel gene against a large panel of tissues
- Diagnostic and high throughput therapeutic analysis in antibody
variations - Analysis of gene expression patterns
- In situ hybridization and used together with immunohistochemistry
- Novel gene and protein expression comparison
- It is also an excellent approach in FISH-based experiments in the
analysis of DNA. In summary, frozen tissue array provides an excellent target
material for an effective study of RNA, DNA, and proteins.
Samples of DNA, RNA, and certain antibodies don’t perform optimally when used in pre-fixed paraffin-embedded tissues. However, they work pretty well when used in frozen tissue array. Again, the procedures that require fixation can be identified and conducted in an appropriate manner. This means it is possible for you to include a wide array of samples in your final analysis than when using the paraffin-embedded
procedure
The only drawback with frozen tissue array is that some cell morphology and tissue architecture distortion is likely to occur. This can be seen by comparing it with the sections from paraffin-embedded. Additionally, a limited number of samples can be embedded in one array. This is due to the fact that there may be a tendency of OCT compound cracking or bending particularly when samples are placed one millimeter apart.
Conclusion
The invention of this technique has become a boon to many scientists from around the world. It has saved scientists and pathologists significant time when conducting several tests. It also has numerous potential applications in basic research,
prognostic oncology, and drug discovery.