[Histonet] alternative to using pap pen?

[Mikael Niku]

Dear Eva,

if you are really doing LOTS of slides, I recommend Coverplates by
ThermoShandon.
We moved from PAP pen to these a few years ago and really love them. 

The idea is that you put a sort of plastic flow-through chamber on the
slide, stick it in a rack, and then you just pipette / squirt the
reagents to the chamber one by one. The solutions flow through the
chamber into a waste container, and the last 100 ul so stays in the
chamber, so the slides cannot get dry. The constant flow appears to be
very effective also, so you can significantly reduce both handling time
and washing time. It's well possible to process something like 80-100
slides simultaneously.

The most significant drawback is that the racks are extremely expensive
at least here in Finland (a few hundred $ per a single 10-slide
rack!!!!), so buying 10 or so for a single project might be a bit too
much. The actual coverplates aren't too expensive (I think about $2
each). They are supposed to be disposable but were are using them until
too scratched. You can by nondisposable ones but they cost a lot.

On the technical side, putting very many sections on a slide might be
problematic due to flow disturbances. 

That said, I would never go back to PAP pen!

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
+  Mikael Niku		 
+  University of Helsinki, Dept. Basic Veterinary Sciences
+  URL: www.helsinki.fi/~mniku/
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

- Mitäkö mieltä olen länsimaisesta sivistyksestä?
  Minusta se olisi erinomainen ajatus!
					 (Gandhi)



> -----Original Message-----
> From: histonet-bounces <@t> lists.utsouthwestern.edu 
> [mailto:histonet-bounces <@t> lists.utsouthwestern.edu] On Behalf 
> Of Eva Andersson
> Sent: 7. huhtikuuta 2004 23:15
> To: histonet <@t> lists.utsouthwestern.edu
> Subject: [Histonet] alternative to using pap pen?
> 
> 
> Hi everyone,
> I am going to be undertaking a large immunohistochemistry staining 
> project. To ensure that our slides do not dry out during the primary 
> antibody incubation we have decided to use pap pen. With such a large 
> amount of slides this may be quite a task and so I would like 
> to know if 
> anyone has found a good alternative to the pap pen. The slides will 
> arrive with the samples already on them.
> Please let me know if you have any suggestions.
> Thanks
> 
> 
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