THE AGAR SANDWICH TECHNIQUE FOR RETINAL BIOPSY PROCESSING

Background: The authors developed an agar sandwich technique for retin al biopsy processing, This tissue agar embedding technique allows for a rapid and reliable method to handle and transport retinal biopsies f rom the operative field to the histology laboratory. Methods: Biopsies from rabbit retinas infected with herpes simplex virus,epiretinal mem branes from patients with macular pucker, and retinas from patients wi th acute retinal necrosis were studied, Each retinal biopsy was fixed, mounted on an agar disc, and covered with liquid agar, light microsco py, electron microscopy, immunocytochemistry, and polymerase chain rea ction were employed on the agar-embedded tissue, Results: The tissues remained mounted in the agar sandwich and maintained their orientation throughout the processing, The morphologic integrity, histologic char acteristics, antigenic properties, and DNA quality ail were preserved using the agar sandwich technique, Conclusion: The agar sandwich techn ique is an efficient and simple technique for handling small biopsy sp ecimens that require various analyses.