Immunohistochemical Detection of Fibrillar Collagens in Tissue Sections and in Culture Cells

Abstract

We evaluated conditions for optimal immunostaining for Type I procollagen and Type III collagen in tissues with high content of these fibrillar collagens. We tested polyclonal and monoclonal antibodies on formalin fixed, paraffin embedded sections and frozen sections from avian tendons and gizzard and on tendon cell cultures grown on glass slides. We also evaluated procedures for antigen unmasking. We obtained the strongest specific staining with monoclonal antibodies to both collagen types using frozen tissue sections or methanol-acetone fixed tendon cell cultures. The use of antigen unmasking was not only unnecessary, but also undesirable as it led to the detachment of sections. (The J Histotechnol 23:333, 2000)