What does TMA stand for?

• A. Tissue Microarray
• B. Tumor Microarray Analysis
• C. Tissue Magnetic Array
• D. Transcripts Microarray Analysis

Answer: (A)

Tissue Microarray is a technique used to analyze many tissue samples on a single microscope slide by assembling small cores from different donor blocks into one recipient block. This grid of cores can then be sectioned and stained under the same conditions, allowing high‑throughput assessment of protein or nucleic acid markers and direct, uniform comparisons across dozens or hundreds of samples. It saves time and reagents while standardizing analyses.

Other terms don’t describe this physical arrangement. Tumor Microarray Analysis implies analyzing data rather than constructing the array itself; Tissue Magnetic Array isn’t a recognized method in this context; Transcripts Microarray Analysis refers to gene expression microarrays, not tissue-wide core arrays.