Table 1.

Survey of autofluorescence reduction methods: advantages and disadvantages.

Method	AAF reduction	Reproducibility	Labor inputa	Batch processingb	Main drawbacks	References
LED array	Excellent	Excellent	Non-intensive	Yes	Long treatment time for thicker sections	This report
UV and fluorescent lights	Good	Good	Non-intensive	Yes	Narrow spectral range may not reduce AAFs in different spectrum	Neumann and Gabel (2002), Schnell et al. (1999)
Sudan Black	Moderate	Moderate	Moderately intensive	No	Diminish fluorescence intensity of labels, does not mask AAFs across entire spectrum	Oliveira et al. (2010), Viegas et al. (2007)
Cupric sulfate	Moderate	Moderate	Moderately intensive	No	Incompatible with Qdot® fluorophores	Potter et al. (2012), Zarkowsky et al. (2011)
Sodium borohydrate	Moderate	Moderate	Moderately intensive	No	Chemical hazard, bubbling action may cause tissue damage	Clancy and Cauller (1998)

^aPreparing and processing reagents, specimens, and instrument.

^bMultiple specimens per treatment.