Laser capture microdissection

Purpose of LCM
Laser Capture Microdissection (LCM) is a method for isolating pure cells of interest from specific microscopic regions of tissue sections.

A transparent transfer film is applied to the surface of a tissue section. Under a microscope, the thin tissue section is viewed through the glass slide on which it is mounted and microscopic clusters of cells are selected for isolation. When the cells of choice are in the center of the field of view, the operator pushes a button which activates a near IR laser diode integral with the microscope optics. The pulsed laser beam activates a precise spot on the transfer film, fusing the film with the underlying cells of choice. The transfer film with the bonded cells is then lifted off the thin tissue section, leaving all unwanted cells behind.

The laser capture microdissection process does not alter or damage the morphology and chemistry of the sample collected, nor the surrounding cells. For this reason, LCM is a useful method of collecting selected cells for DNA, RNA and/or protein analyses. LCM can be performed on a variety of tissue samples including blood smears, cytologic preparations, cell cultures and aliquots of solid tissue. Frozen and paraffin embedded archival tissue may also be used. On formalin or alcohol fixed paraffin embedded tissues, DNA and RNA retrieval has been successful, but protein analysis is not possible (requires frozen section).