I have used TTC stained sections for histology to analyse changes in morphology. The sections are fine for doing H&E stain. Is this acceptable to perform these experiments? (As Myocardial ischemia/reperfusion samples are very precious)
I usually keep a slice from the apex for histology (in buffered formalin then in 70% ethanol) and stain rest of the heart with TTC. I would not recommend doing histology on TTC stained sections as TTC staining can interfere with the stains and give wrong results.
It is dye which can bind with dehydrogenase enzyme and stain Heart area. In myocardial infarction area contain loss of dehydrogenase enzyme so it cannot bind with enzymes and doesn't stain, give yellowish white color.
We never do that. We obtain slices for TTC and additional slices for histology and immunohistochemistry because TTC degrades some proteins and will interfere with stains and antibodies.
I am a neurobiologist, and I have used TTC staining to detect infarcted brain tissue in stroke models. I agree with Carlos, and I try to use alternate slices for TTC and for histology. I am lucky in that there is a matrix that lets me make slices of fresh rodent brain and keep them in order, so that I can match the faces of the slices to each other if necessary for the analysis. This also allows me to get the slices needed for histology either frozen or into fixative ASAP, rather than waiting for the completion of the TTC reaction (neurons die quickly). You may have similar considerations for the analysis of cardiac tissue, depending on the probes you are using for the analysis of tissue health.