Technical Services
The Institute of Veterinary Pathology holds an accreditation according to ISO/IEC 17025 (Nr STS 255) for its facilities and methods applied for diagnostic purposes. The facilities and methods are identical to the accredited methods also for research purposes whenever appropriate. The following technical services are provided:
Routine procedures
- Trimming, processing and paraffin embedding of tissue specimens for histology, immunohistology and in situ hybridisation;
- Preparation of stained sections (HE and a wide range of histochemical stains for specific cellular and tissue components);
- Provision of stained slides (HE, special stains, immunohistology, immunofluorescence) as digitalised images;
- Preparation of unstained sections for immunohistology and in situ hybridisation;
- Preparation of frozen sections, subsequent staining and immunohistology;
- Preparation of tissue sections from paraffin blocks for molecular studies;
- Preparation of cell pellets from tissue cultures (for light and electron microscopy, immunohistology).
- Immunohistology/immunofluorescence on frozen or fixed, paraffin-embedded tissue for a wide range of antigens. Several immunohistology protocols are accredited according to ISO/IEC 17025 for diagnostic purposes (see below)
List of immunohistology protocols established for routine staining on murine tissues; accredited according to ISO/IEC 17025 for diagnostic purposes
| Caspase 3 | Large fragment (17/19 kDa) cleaved caspase 3 | Apoptotic cells |
| CD20 | Cell membrane protein | B cells and follicular dendritic cells |
| CD3 | Intracytoplasmic component of CD3 protein | T cells |
| CD31 | Cell membrane protein | Endothelial cells (blood and lymphatic vessels) |
| CD45R | Isoform of CD45 that is exclusively expressed on exon A (220 kDa surface protein) | Early and mature B cells, activated T cells, follicular dendritic cells |
| F4/80 | Surface glycoprotein | Macrophages, subpopulation of dendritic cells |
| Glucagon | Hormone | Glucagon producing islet cells (pancreas) |
| Iba-1 | Ionisised calcium binding molecule 1 | Microglia, macrophages, dendritic cells in tissues (all cells of monocytic lineage) |
| Insulin | Hormone | Insulin producing islet cells (pancreas) |
| Ki67 | Ki67 antigen | Proliferating cells |
| Myeloperoxidase | Haemoprotein | Neutrophils (predominantly) |
| NeuN | Neuron-specific nuclear protein | Neurons in central and peripheral nervous system |
| SMA | Protein of microfilaments | Smooth muscle cells |
Specific procedures
- Testing of new antibodies for their use in immunohistology;
- Processing of tissue specimens for transmission electron microscopy (TEM), immuno-TEM and 3D-TEM;
- Laser capture microdissection. This service is provided through the Center for Microscopy and Image Analysis (ZMB), University of Zürich (http://www.zmb.uzh.ch/aboutus.html );
- Clinical pathology analyses (routine clinical chemistry, haematology, cytology, urinalysis and endocrinological analysis; non-routine tests depending on assay availability) and data interpretation. This service is provided by the Clinical Laboratory (www.vetlabor.uzh.ch).