Precision-cut tissue slices are thin sections of living tissue that are obtained using specialized cutting tools and techniques. They are an important tool in medical research, drug discovery, and toxicology, allowing scientists to study the structure and function of tissues in a more physiologically relevant context than traditional cell culture. Tissue sections are required for precision-cut tissue slices as they provide a uniform and consistent sample that can be easily sliced and maintained in culture. Without tissue sections, it would be difficult to obtain thin and uniform slices of tissue, making it challenging to study tissue physiology and pathology.
Precision-cut tissue slices (PCTS) are three-dimensional (3D) tissue explants that can be cultured ex vivo for additional studies of physiology, toxicology, and enzyme functions. Precision-cut tissue slices are typically made from human or animal organs, like lung, liver, kidney, etc. Tissue slices were first made by hand cutting with razor blades, but microtomes now help section PCTS that are consistent in thicknesses and have increased viability. Precision-cut tissue slices retain the anatomical architecture of the organ, cells in their original tissue-matrix configuration, metabolic activity, tissue homeostasis, and more. Thus, PCTS are a popular model for toxicological and pharmaceutical research because they closely recapitulate in vivo conditions. One area where PCTS is particularly useful is in respiratory research, where precision-cut lung slices (PCLS) allow for studying host-pathogen interactions.
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Dr Astero Klampatsa (PhD) is a Team Leader in Cancer Immunotherapy at the Institute of Cancer Research, London, UK and a Senior Lecturer in King’s College London, UK. She focuses on developing novel CAR T cell therapies for mesothelioma and lung cancer, as well as the immunobiology of these malignancies for identification of markers of response to immunotherapy. In this webinar, Dr. Klampatsa will discuss how the Compresstome® was used to create precision-cut tumor slices (PCTS) as an ex vivo model for immunotherapy research.
Visikol is a contract research services company focused on leveraging advanced imaging, 3D cell culture assays and digital pathology to accelerate the drug discovery and development process. In this webinar, Visikol explains the need for in vitro liver models to study livery injury. They demonstrate the standard assay format for creating precision-cut liver slices (PCLS), and explain how the Compresstome® VF-310-0Z vibrating microtome helps create uniform tissue slices that can be meaningfully compared between treatments. Visikol goes through how to use the Compresstome® step-by-step for making PCLS.
The Compresstome® has been widely used by researchers worldwide for making precision-cut lung slices (PCLS). The Compresstome® uses agarose embedding prior to slicing to allow for the preservation of open alveoli and better tissue compliance. The video above shows Compresstome® sectioning PCLS for immunostaining to visualize the localization of various immune cell types in the lung. This protocol can be extended to visualize the location and function of many different cell types under a variety of conditions.
Dr. Tsilingiri is working on tumor immunotherapy and using the Compresstome vibrating microtome to examine the interaction between tumor tissues and autologous lymph node cells in slice cultures. This work is being carried out in the frame of an EU-funded Consortium, Tumour-LNoC (Tumour-Lymph node on a chip), with the ultimate goal of mimicking the metastatic process on a chip and monitor metastasizing cells in real time.
Dr. Chioccioli:
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