OVERVIEW OF MICROWAVE APPLICATIONS IN THE NEUROSCIENCES

This paper gives an overview of Microwave Applications in the Neurosci ences and introduces this issue of the Journal of Neuroscience Methods . Emphasis is laid on: temperature, hotspots, hazards and cycle times in the use of the microwave oven. Consequences of the tissue dimension s and masking of antigens are discussed. Special problems encountered are: bulk preparation of specimens, brain electron microscopy, cooling of specimens during microwaving and the combination of microwave tech niques. The recent developments discussed are vacuum-microwave applica tion for large brain specimens and antigen retrieval.