What happens to the human brain tissue donated to the Tissue Bank?
The brain is roughly made up of two equal halves. The brain is firstly cut into two, one half of the brain is fixed for neuropathological examination. The other half brain is sliced into thick sections, blocked and rapidly frozen, this is then stored long-term in a 85oc freezer. From the fixed half brain, tissue blocks from various brain regions are cut. Tissue sections from such blocks are subjected to a variety of histological stains. A neuropathologist examines the sections under a microscope to confirm that the donor had a specific neurological disease or was free from any neurological disorder and combines this information with a clinical summary produced from the donors medical records. Once the neuropathological diagnosis has been confirmed, the frozen tissue blocks can be utilised for the various research projects. What research is tissue from the Tissue Bank currently being used for? Microarray-based research in the new PDS Brain Research Centre at Imperial College Microarrays
