Current Status of Automation in the Process of Visualisation and Analysis: What is important for Toxicologic Pathology?

Current advances in automation of pathology methods with focus on toxicologic pathology are dealt with. Areas of tissue can be separated and collected for further analysis by laser microdissection. Automatic stainers for histology and immunohistochemistry rapidly produce high standard quality stains of tissue sections. Confocal laser scanning microscopy allows visualization of fluorochromes with superior quality optical data. Introduction of field emission cathodes and low vacuum technologies to scanning electron microscopy enables examination of non-coated and non-dehydrated specimens. Energy filtering transmission electron microscopy yields high contrast images and provides novel specimen information. Digital image analysis offers systems to support users in specific evaluations. To facilitate orientation on the market, a selection of commercially available equipment is presented and the features of the devices are compared. (J Toxicol Pathol 2008; 21: 207-221)