Critical Anatomy/ISH

The Histo Pathology Core is based upon the premise that research-oriented histology is about meeting the client investigators' need for critical anatomy.

The lab is well versed in:

• Performing dark-field assisted cut-and-look microtomy to meet comparative anatomy between specimens.
• Matching specific sectioning planes to Kaufman mouse embryo or Paxinos brain anatomy atlases.
• Matching sectioning planes to previously cut slides or anatomy depicted in journal articles.

Achieving specific and comparative anatomy between specimens is important for another of the Core's valuable services, radioisotopic in-situ hybridization for mRNA expression studies. The Core has a long history with in-situ. In fact, the need to characterize several cardiac-development genes by ISH was the driving force leading to the lab's founding.

The Core has:

• Performed approximately 15,000 hybridizations over the last 27 years.
• Attempted approximately 2,100 mRNA species with an estimated 70 percent success rate.
• Routinely worked with S35-UTP/CTP labeled probes.

Note on Radioisotopic In-Situ Hybridization mRNA Expression Studies

The client laboratory is required to have a license and a hot area for ordering/working with S35. Due to regulations for shipping/receiving radioactive materials between universities, radioisotopic in-situ hybridization is only available to on-campus UT Southwestern Medical Center clients.

Note on Protein Expression Studies

While the Core has considerable experience with immunohistochemistry, the lab does not offer IHC as a routine service outside of a limited number of antigens.

In the case of an investigator needing staining with an "off-menu" antibody, the Core can facilitate investigators who can commit technical staff for training/performance of the stains. For these collaborative IHC efforts conducted in the lab, the Core can provide an array of antigen retrieval reagents, secondary antibodies, chromagens, and fluorophores.