Accuracy Analysis of a Next-Generation Tissue Microarray on Various Soft Tissue Samples of Wistar Rats

• Main Authors: Jan-Erik Werry, Stefan Müller, Falk Wehrhan, Carol Geppert, Gesche Frohwitter, Jutta Ries, Peer W. Kämmerer, Tobias Moest, Rainer Lutz, Andi Homm, Marco Kesting, Manuel Weber
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2021-06-01
• Series: Applied Sciences
• Subjects: tissue microarray; ngTMA; accuracy; method; quality
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/11/12/5589

This study aimed to investigate accuracy in different sectional planes of the TMA Grand Master (3DHISTECH) Workstation in various soft tissue samples collected from Wistar rats. A total of 108 animals were sacrificed and 963 tissue specimens collected from 12 soft-tissue types. A total of 3307 tissue cores were punched and transferred into 40 recipient TMA blocks. Digital image analysis was performed. Core loss showed a significant correlation with tissue type and was highest in skin tissue (<i>p</i> < 0.001), renal medulla and femoral artery, nerve, and vein bundle (<i>p</i> < 0.01). Overall, 231 of 3307 tissue cores (7.0%) were lost. Hit rate analysis was performed in 1852 punches. The target was hit completely, partially and missed totally by 89.4%, 7.2% and 2.2%. A total of 54.5% of punches had good accuracy with less than 200 µm deviation from the centre of the targeted region and 92.6% less than 500 µm. Accuracy decreases with greater sectional depth. In the deepest sectional plane of roughly 0.5 mm median depth, almost 90% of cores had a deviation below 500 µm. Recommendations for automated TMA creation are given in this article. The ngTMA^®-method has proven accurate and reliable in different soft tissues, even in deeper sectional layers.