[The use of microwaves in histological technics]

Abstract

Microwave irradiation of biological specimens produces molecular movement and heat, mainly because dipolar molecules like water are caused to reverse on their axes 2.45 billion times per second. These properties have been used in biology for some years. Using a domestic microwave oven, there is a dramatic decrease of the time needed to perform numerous histological procedures: fixation; dehydration, clearing, impregnation; slide drying; histochemical staining, particularly with metallic impregnation techniques which benefit from an additional improvement in quality; enzyme histochemical reactions; immunohistochemical reactions.