PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - P J Coates
AU  - A J d'Ardenne
AU  - G Khan
AU  - H O Kangro
AU  - G Slavin
TI  - Simplified procedures for applying the polymerase chain reaction to routinely fixed paraffin wax sections.
AID  - 10.1136/jcp.44.2.115
DP  - 1991 Feb 01
TA  - Journal of Clinical Pathology
PG  - 115--118
VI  - 44
IP  - 2
4099  - http://jcp.bmj.com/content/44/2/115.short
4100  - http://jcp.bmj.com/content/44/2/115.full
SO  - J Clin Pathol1991 Feb 01; 44
AB  - The polymerase chain reaction was applied to the analysis of DNA contained in archival paraffin wax embedded material. DNA suitable for the reaction was obtained from these tissues by simple extraction methods, without previous dewaxing of tissue sections. When compared with unfixed material, the reaction efficiency was compromised, so that an increased number of amplification cycles were required to produce equivalent amounts of amplified product. This in turn led to an increase in amplification artefacts, which can be minimised by a simple modification of the standard reaction. Amplification of relatively large DNA fragments was not always successful, and it seems prudent to bear this in mind when designing oligonucleotide primers which are to be used for the amplification of archival material. The efficiency of the procedure can be improved by dividing the amplification cycles into two parts: this reduces the amount of reagent needed, is relatively simple and inexpensive, and can be performed in one working day.