ABSTRACT
Antibodies can recognize either proteins, peptides, or amines involved in either neurotransmission or neuroreception. The procedure is extremely simple and commercial kits are often available for many chemicals of interest to neuroscientists. The tissue of interest can be treated as a whole unit if the tissue is small enough or larger tissues can be sectioned, either in thin or thick sections. Typically fixation causes some morphological changes, especially shrinkage of tissue. In all cases, sectioned material is transferred to slides which have been coated either with gelatine or poly-L-lysine to ensure tissues adhere to slides during subsequent treatment. The procedure for wax embedded tissues is similar, but the tissues must be de-waxed and rehydrated before proceeding with staining protocol. The procedure adopted may depend upon the microscopy system available.
