2100 Retriever Paraffin embedded tissue sections? A solution for antigen unmasking is HERE
This is a novel and affordable solution to all major problems with immunohistochemistry on paraffin sections. Ease of use combined with high reproducibility of the results will give you the best quality immunostaining.
What Is the Retriever?
2100-Retriever, or further simply Retriever is a bench-top model for thermally processing slides of the formalin-fixed, paraffin embedded tissues prior to immunostaining. The model is designed to ensure identical processing of all the samples during a processing cycle, as well as the identical processing of the samples in individual sessions.
How does the Retriever work?
The Retriever is developed on a basis of an autoclave. It was earlier reported that autoclaving formalin-fixed sections may be not a bit less effective than processing them in a microwave. After a year of testing we found the optimal configuration of such autoclave. The core principle is heating of the chambers with the slides at high temperature (>120°C) and high pressure. The chambers reach the required temperature and remain at it for a fixed time. Specially designed thermal walls of the unit control the speed of cooling of the inner chamber and slides. The unit is fully automatic.
What are the advantages of the Retriever over a microwave or a Pressure cooker?
All antibodies that can be used on microwave treated tissues can be used in Retriever as well.
Reproducibility. There is no cold zone effect, usual to a microwave, when some of the sections are heated less than others. All sections are processed uniformly, always for the same time. There is no variations from cycle to cycle so you can compare the sections processed with a gap of a couple of month (or years). Since the cycle is fully automatic, the heating of the sections, exposure to high pressure and temperature, and even cooling (also quite important) are standardized. So are your results.
Quality of the results. The Retriever is preserving the tissue morphology, thus your images will be of much higher quality. For some antigens we found that the intensity of the staining is much higher than with standard methods (especially for nuclear antigens, such as estrogen receptor).
Your time. All you have to do is to put slides in a chamber and push the button. While the unit is working, you do not have to be nearby, you can go on with other running issues.All these advantages are very affordable. The unit was designed for research groups and small pathology labs, and is priced accordingly.