A novel microscope slide adhesive for poorly adherent tissue sections

We describe a protected isocyanate (PI) microscope slide-coating technology that significantly enhances tissue section adhesion. This technology is particularly useful for problematic tissue sections that detach during staining. The glass slide coating, is unique in that it involves a highly C reactive covalent coupling to cellular proteins. Namely, we coat the slides with a modified isocyanate group capable of binding, to amine, hydroxyl, and carboxylic functionalities on cells and tissue sections. This contrasts to presently available slide coatings. which primarily provide a weak charge interaction with tissue proteins. We compared the tissue adhesiveness of our isocyanate-coated slides to commercially available aminosilane ("plus"), poly-L-lysine, and polysine(TM) slides. Serial tissue sections were mounted on PI-coated slides versus one of the other existing coatings and treated in an otherwise-identical manner for staining. In instances where tissue adhesion was problematic, PI-coated slides produced better tissue retention almost every time. The difference was sometimes dramatic and of significant diagnostic value. We believe that this technology can be useful for capturing tissue sections that otherwise will not adhere well to glass slides.