NSH Poster Podcast: P17 (2024)

Whole NHP Brain Microtomy Technique- S Wessel, MS, HTL (ASCP),AskBio, Discovery 1, Morrisville, North Carolina T Marais, AskBio France, Paris Brain Institute (ICM), Paris, France
M Martini, PhD, PhD, AskBio, Discovery 1, Morrisville, North Carolina, M Faridounnia, PhD, MSc, AskBio, Discovery 1, Morrisville, North Carolina, D Gregorowicz, HTL (ASCP),AskBio, Discovery 1, Morrisville, North Carolina, L Haertel, HT (ASCP), AskBio, Discovery 1, Morrisville, North Carolina
M Hamilton, HTL (ASCP), AskBio, Discovery 1, Morrisville, North Carolina, M Vallucci, AskBio France, Paris Brain Institute (ICM), Paris, France ,S Alves, PhD, MSc, AskBio France, Paris Brain Institute (ICM), Paris, France, J Mysore, BVSc, MVSc, PhD, DACVP, AskBio, Discovery 1, Morrisville, North Carolina

Preserving the integrity and conformation of capsid proteins, enzymes, and antigens while working with large tissue sections presents a “big” challenge in histology laboratories. With our Whole NHP (Non-Human Primate) Brain microtomy technique, we maintained a frozen NHP brain as a single piece while coronally sectioning through the entire cerebral hemispheres followed by cerebellum/brain stem. The brain remained frozen on a sliding microtome by utilizing a freezing stage and molds filled with powdered dry ice. As the brain was sectioned at 40um the molds were removed to uncover additional tissue for cutting until the tissue had been entirely sectioned. Serial pictures and an organized series of well plates were used to preserve anatomical order. By sectioning the brain as a whole and maintaining control over anatomical context we achieved results that may enhance the accuracy and thoroughness of histopathological examinations. Furthermore, serial sectioning of the Paraformaldehyde-fixed frozen brain preserved the antigenicity for various immunohistochemical assays. We believe this technique offered certain advantages over the routine paraffin-embedded sectioning method, especially for the biodistribution studies practiced during the developmental stage of gene therapies.