Leica AS LMD –
The Latest Advance in Laser Microdissection

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With laser microdissection, heterogeneous tissues are observed under direct microscopic visualization. Cells or tissue regions of interest areidentified and marked according to specific morphological and histological properties. Infrared or UV lasers are used to separate specific cells of interest from the surrounding regions, and various methods areemployed to collect the dissected cells.

Laser capture microdissection was first developed at the National Cancer Institute for separating cancer cells from normal cells in heterogeneous carcinomas to better analyze and compare molecular differences between diseased and normal cells . With this technique, an IR laser was used to isolate the cells and a contact method was used to transfer them. Since then, many improvements have been made to this technology that makes it easier, faster, more precise, and contamination-free. Laser microdissection technology has also been increasingly used in other research fields, such as neurobiology, developmental biology, plant biology, in addition to cancer biology and other disease-related researches.

J. Ossi, A. Lee, J. Zhou
Leica Microsystems Inc., Germany
Scientific and Technical Information
Edition CDR 8, pp. 114–122
August 2005