Faculty of Veterinary Science
Department of Paraclinical Sciences (Veterinary)
Selected Highlights from Research Findings
Immunohistochemistry (IHC) is one of the pillars of modern diagnostic pathology and a fundamental research tool in pathology. Immunohistochemistry combines anatomical, immunological and biochemical techniques to identify cell or tissue antigens ranging from amino acids and proteins to infectious agents and specific cellular populations, most commonly in formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tissues. By the interaction of target antigens with specific antibodies tagged with a visible label, IHC makes it possible to visualize the distribution and localization of selected antigens within cells and in the proper tissue context. In the last couple of decades there has been an exponential increase in publications on IHC and immunocytochemistry techniques (in the biomedical and veterinary literature). In addition, in 2010, the vast majority of publications in the best veterinary pathology journals feature IHC as a reliable method to diagnose and study the pathogenesis of disease. Its popularity as a research and diagnostic tool no doubt stems from the fact that the technique is sensitive yet robust, reliable, easily available, generally inexpensive and increasingly can be automated for labelling, image acquisition and scoring.
In the Faculty of Veterinary Science, Department of Paraclinical Sciences, Section of Pathology at Onderstepoort, IHC, specifically the immunoperoxidase method, has been utilised in a number of research projects (the aim of which has been to diagnose a specific disease and/or to understand the pathogenesis of the disease).
Contact person: Dr SJ Clift.
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