Abstract: Objective: To study the feasibility of detecting abnormal immune complex in paraffin section of renal core biopsy specimen by immunohistochemical method. Methods: Thirty-six core biopsy specimens of kidney with glomerular nephritis were examined by frozen section immunofluorescence and paraffin section immunohistochemistry to evaluate the results of immunohistochemical detection in reference with the that of immunofluorescence. Results: For the 7 cases of lupus nephritis, 16 cases of IgA nephropathy, 13 cases of membranous glomerular nephritis, immunohistochemical staining of IgA, IgG, IgM and C1q, C3c, C4c were in concordant with those of immunofluorescence both in expression intensity and location. Conclusions: Immunohistochemical examination of paraffin section after appropriate antigen retrieval can be used as a complementary method for the unsatisfactory result of immunofluorescence detection in frozen section.

Key words: Renal core biopsy, Frozen section, Paraffin section, Immunofluorescence, Immunohistochemistry