Systematic development of immunohistochemistry protocol for large cryosections-specific to non-perfused fetal brain

Immunohistochemistry (IHC) is an important technique in understanding the expression of neurochemical molecules in the developing human brain. Despite its routine application in the research and clinical setup, the IHC protocol specific for soft fragile fetal brains that are fixed using the non-perfusion method is still limited in studying the whole brain.

This study shows that the IHC protocols, using a chromogenic detection system, used in animals and adult humans are not optimal in the fetal brains. We have optimized key steps from Antigen retrieval (AR) to chromogen visualization for formalin-fixed whole-brain cryosections (20 µm) mounted on glass slides.

We show the results from six validated, commonly used antibodies to study the fetal brain. We achieved optimal antigen retrieval with 0.1 M Boric Acid, pH 9.0 at 70°C for 20 minutes. We also present the optimal incubation duration and temperature for protein blocking and the primary antibody that results in specific antigen labeling with minimal tissue damage.

The IHC protocol commonly used for adult human and animal brains results in significant tissue damage in the fetal brains with little or suboptimal antigen expression. Our new method with important modifications including the temperature, duration, and choice of the alkaline buffer for AR addresses these pitfalls and provides high-quality results.

The optimized IHC protocol for the developing human brain (13-22 GW) provides a high-quality, repeatable, and reliable method for studying chemoarchitecture in neurotypical and pathological conditions across different gestational ages.