Polarized incident light microscopical enhancement of immunogold and immunogold-silver preparations: its role in immunohistology.

Polarized incident light microscopy (PILM) is a recognized method of visualization of bound colloidal gold in cytological immunocytochemical preparations. This study investigates its role in the assessment of histological sections using both indirect immunogold and immunogold-silver staining methods. With dark field or bright field illumination this technique was found to be advantageous and allowed easy detection staining at low magnification and accurate detection of low levels of stain product. We advocate this technique as a valuable microscopical enhancement method for immunogold immunohistology.