Published online by Cambridge University Press: 14 March 2018
The microwave oven is a valuable tool for light and electron microscopy microtechnique labs. Tissue processing times, traditionally taking up to two weeks, have been reduced to a few hours as a result of the implementation of microwave technology (Kok et al., 1988, Gibberson and Demaree, 2001). In addition, the quality of the tissue preparations has improved dramatically. Microwave ovens have also evolved since their first use in the laboratory. Early experiments were conducted using relatively crude commercial microwave ovens. Now, labs use microwave ovens with temperature probes, strict control over the magnetron (which generates the microwaves), variable power supplies, chamber cooling, and high microwave field uniformity.