False positive staining in the TUNEL assay to detect apoptosis in liver and intestine is caused by endogenous nucleases and inhibited by dietyl pyrocarbonate

摘要

Conclusions-False positive staining in the TUNEL assay in the liver is caused by the release of endogenous endonucleases as a result of proteinase treatment. This canb e abolished by pretreatment of tissue slides with DEPC. Background-The terminal transferase Uridyl nick end labelling (TUNEL) assay Allows the easy demonstration of cell Death as a result of apoptosis. However, When this assay is applied to liver tissue, The number of TUNEL positive cells is Dependent on the time of incubation with proteinase K.