HISTOLOGY AND HISTOPATHOLOGY

Cellular and Molecular Biology

 

Review

Application of in vivo cryotechnique to the examination of cells and tissues in living animal organs

N. Terada, N. Ohno, Z. Li, Y. Fujii, T. Baba and S. Ohno

Department of Anatomy, Interdisciplinary Graduate School of Medicine and Engineering, University of Yamanashi, Tamaho, Yamanashi, Japan

Offprint requests to: Shinichi Ohno, M.D., Ph.D., Professor and Chairman, Department of Anatomy, Interdisciplinary Graduate School of Medicine and Engineering, University of Yamanashi, 1110 Shimokato, Tamaho, Yamanashi 409-3898, Japan. e-mail: sohno@yamanashi.ac.jp


Summary. When all biological materials in cells and tissues of living animal organs are quickly and promptly frozen, immunolocalization of their components and structural features in situ is necessary to understand their in vivo functioning states. However, these direct morphological analyses were difficult to achieve by conventional chemical fixation methods during the last century. A new cryofixation method, named the “in vivo cryotechnique”, in which the normal blood circulation in living animals is always retained at the moment of freezing, has become a powerful tool to visualize the real native morphology of cells and tissues with functional meaning. The “in vivo cryotechnique” can usually be combined with a wide range of subsequent preparation techniques, and can thereby enable us to perform various direct analyses on biological samples, reflecting the physiological functions of living animal organs. Histol Histopathol 21, 265-272 (2006)

Key words: In vivo cryotechnique, Living animal organs, Immunolocalization, Cryofixation

DOI: 10.14670/HH-21.265