Advancing Automated Heat-Induced Epitope Retrieval

HIER processes are more reproducible, less damaging to tissue sections, and save a great deal of time. Formalin is a cross-linking type of fixative, forming methylene bridges between proteins within the tissue.This cross-linking reaction adversely alters the structure of tissue proteins, resulting in loss of antigenicity.One way to restore antigenicity is through the use of heat-induced epitope retrieval (HIER) prior to immunohistochemistry (IHC).