Implicit in the science of histology is the preservation and archiving of tissue. Part I of the book concentrates on the preparation of tissue, providing an overview of fixation, embedding, and processing (Chapter 1), and in Chapters 2 and 3, the required techniques for the retrieval of RNA from histological sections. Both routine and specialist histological staining techniques are provided in Part II. These include proto-cols for immuno (Chapters 4-7), lectin (Chapter 8), and hybridization (Chapter 9) histochemistry, histological staining (Chapters 10 and 11), as well as specific methods for the in situ identification of hypoxia (Chapter 12) and apoptosis (Chapter 13). Finally, Part III details advances in imaging (Chapters 14-16) and image analysis (Chapter 17).
It is hoped that this volume will provide molecular biologists with the basic histo-chemical techniques and histologists with the molecular techniques to realise the potential of their resource. We are indebted to the authors for their generosity in sharing these protocols.