Automated Sectioning, Staining, and Imaging of Histologically Preserved Tissues

Objective Tissue microstructure contains a wealth of information with extraordinary value for basic research and therapy discovery. But because histology is manual and tedious, tissue protocols are not set up for highly automated, structured, data‐driven methods that prevail in other areas of life sciences research. Methods We adapt block‐face lamination array tomography (B‐FLAT) for automated, high‐throughput histological sectioning. We can section, stain, mount, image, and microdissect paraffin‐embedded tissue sections on tape, allowing for much higher speed, accuracy, and consistency in section capture, as well as automated imaging and image registration. Results We successfully captured, deparaffinized, stained, and imaged serial histological sections on tape. Separately, we validated numerous histological and immunohistochemical (IHC) stains relevant to renal pathology and established their equivalence to conventional glass slide methods. We generated a series of at least 30 hematoxylin and eosin (H&E)‐stained mouse kidney sections, digitally imaged and registered at 20X magnification, and reconstructed entire renal glomeruli with nuclear resolution adequate for algorithmic cell counting. Conclusions Our automation approach recapitulates the performance of conventional histology practices, but allows for much higher speed, accuracy, and consistency in section capture. This enables future development to dramatically improve section quality, throughput, and sample biases. Support or Funding Information Funding provided by NIH grant 1R43DK120281‐01