IHC Zinc Fixative is an alternative fixative to formalin fixation of tissue for paraffin embedded sections. 10% neutral buffered formalin fixes the tissue by cross-linking proteins that may cause a conformational change or "masking" of the antigenic epitope leading to reduced or absent antibody reactivity. Different antigen retrieval techniques are used to unmask the epitope (try the BD Retrievagen A and BD Retrievagen B solutions). However, many times it is not possible to retrieve the epitope and get optimal immunohistochemical staining. In these situations we recommend the fixation of the tissue with our IHC Zinc Fixative which falls in the category of a milder fixative compared to formalin. It was found that Zinc-fixed paraffin embedded sections showed very good immunostaining with many leukocytes markers and depicted tissue morphology comparable to formalin-fixation. Use of antigen retrieval techniques on the Zinc-fixed paraffin sections may further enhance the antibody reactivity in some cases. However, there are a few antigens that are not preserved by Zinc-fixation either and in these situations the use of fresh frozen tissue for immunohistochemical staining is the only alternative.

(RUO)

Immunohistochemistry-zinc-fixed (Routinely Tested)

Zinc based fixative

Development References(1) 1. Beckstead JH. A simple technique for preservation of fixation-sensitive antigens in paraffin-embedded tissues. J Histochem Cytochem. 1994; 42(8):1127-1134. (Methodology: Immunohistochemistry).