TRANSPARENT POLYAMIDE - A PROMISING NEW MATERIAL FOR MICROSCOPIC SLIDES

We report the use of transparent Polyamide as a new material for micro scopical slides intended to be used for immunohistochemical stainings. Polyamide slides provide a strongly increased adhesion of the section s compared to conventionally coated glass slides. They are sensitive t o mechanical scratches and become turbid during deparaffinization, and revert to transparency within about eight hours. Immunohistochemical stainings for Cathepsin D for which sections from primary cutaneous me lanomas are used reflect the results obtained with grass slides, provi ding well-preserved histology. Other possible applications for slides manufactured from Polyamide include molecular in situ-techniques, such as in situ hybridizations.