Revisiting fixation and embedding techniques for optimal detection of dendritic cell subsets in tissues.

Organ-specific cell types are maintained by tissue homeostasis and may vary in nature and/or frequency in pathological situations. Moreover, within a cell lineage, some sub-populations, defined by combinations of cell-surface markers, may have specific functions. Dendritic cells are the epitome of such a population as they may be subdivided into discrete sub-groups with defined functions in specific compartments of various organs.