The value of hyaluronidase treatment of different tissues before demonstration of fibronectin by the indirect immunoperoxidase technique.

The influence of testicular hyaluronidase treatment on the immunohistochemical localization of fibronectin in different tissues (human articular cartilage, large intestine, synovial membrane and experimental granulation tissue) as well on frozen as on formaldehyde fixed, paraffin embedded tissue, has been studied using the indirect immunoperoxidase technique. Pretreatment with hyaluronidase is essential in demonstrating fibronectin in frozen sections of human articular cartilage. In the other tissues examined treatment with hyaluronidase was not essential, but gave a more optimal staining quality. The effect of hyaluronidase treatment was to some extent dependent on the duration of treatment. In formaldehyde fixed, paraffin processed tissue the improvement with hyaluronidase treatment was only seen when the hyaluronidase followed pepsin digestion of the deparaffinized tissue sections.