Related Experiment Video
Updated: Sep 21, 2026

Preparation of Formalin-fixed Paraffin-embedded Tissue Cores for both RNA and DNA Extraction
Published on: August 21, 2016
Flow and image cytometric DNA measurements in fine needle aspiration samples of prostatic neoplasms
E Piaton1, P P Bringuier, D Seigneurin
1Laboratoire d'Histologie, Faculté de Médecine Lyon Grange-Blanche, France.
Objective:
To compare the DNA content measured by flow cytometry (FCM) and image analysis (IA) from prostatic fine needle aspiration (FNA) samples.
Study Design:
A total of 48 samples were studied. FCM was performed on propidium iodide-stained nuclei according to the Vindelov method, and image analysis was performed on Feulgen-stained slides. Positive FNA results were grade (1-3) and compared with Gleason grades.
Results:
Aneuploidy was closely related to positive FNA results (P < .01). DNA histograms were found to be aneuploid in all grade 3 carcinomas (n = 13) by IA and in 11 cases (84.6%) by FCM. Grade 2 carcinomas (n = 9) were found to be aneuploid with both methods. In grade 1 carcinomas (n = 10), 2 cases exhibited IA aneuploid profiles, whereas all FCM cases were diploid. Aneuploid profiles were more often associated with high Gleason scores than were diploid ones (P < .01). Among the 16 patients with negative FNA results, two cases had tetraploid DNA profiles related to contaminating seminal vesicle cells. The difference in DNA measurements reached 10.4% but was not statistically significant.
Conclusion:
These findings show that the two methods, as applied to prostatic FNA samples, give comparable results and that seminal vesicle cells may be responsible for false tetraploid profiles.

