Technical comparison of IHC on cryosection and FFPE section

Cryosections are obtained from lightly fixed (<4% PFA), and rapidly frozen tissues, which offers a key advantage of antigen preservation in situ in tissue sections. Tissue morphology is not as well preserved as FFPE sections.

Figure legend

Cryosection imaging shows the Mucin-1 proteins in the luminal membrane of the epithelium lining the mucosa of the mouse stomach. Note that the anti-Mucin-1 antibody signals have very low background in the cytoplasm.

Figure legend

High-magnification view of cryosection showing the Mucin-1 protein localization in the mouse stomach epithelium.

Formalin-fixed paraffin embedded (FFPE) tissue sections preserve tissue morphology better than cryosections. However, because formalin (10% formaldehyde) extensively crosslinked proteins in tissue sections, antigen retrieval is required to reverse the crosslinking reaction and to allow antibody access to antigen proteins.

Figure legend

FFPE section imaging shows the Mucin-1 proteins in the luminal membrane of the epithelium lining the mucosa of the mouse stomach. Note that the anti-Mucin-1 antibody signals have higher background in the cytoplasm than those on cryosection.

Figure legend

High-magnification view of FFPE section showing the Mucin-1 protein localization in the mouse stomach epithelium.