New developments in application of laser capture microdissection

Isolation of pure targeted cells is an important and essential step for the molecular analysis of tissue lesion occurred in the progression of disease. Laser capture microdissection (LCM) is a novel technique that can be applied to obtain pure targeted cell subgroup or even a single cell quickly and precisely under the microscope, thus the problem of tissue heterogeneity in molecular analysis can be tackled successfully. In this article, the principles, advantages and disadvantages of LCM were introduced. New developments in the application of LCM were summarized in two fields (DNA analysis and gene expression analysis) respectively. Meanwhile, possible directions of the future developments of LCM were put forward.