[Histonet] Freezing Biopsies

[ajennings <@t> unmc.edu]

Bernice from Instrumedics I am sure can give you better insight into what
use to be called "Gentle Jane" freezing. Helps with heat extraction and
overall consistent freezing.
It may help.

I use to have the same problem with whole mouse embryos, because they were
freezing from the outside in and by the time the liver froze/expanded it
would pop out of the block. I know biopsies are by far smaller but it could
be the same general theory with the OCT freezing from the outside around
the sample and the sample having no place else to expand. It actually
helped me to freeze in the lN2 vapor instead of dropping the sample into
isopentane. The time difference was negligible and I didn't get that pop
out peak that I believe you are referring to. The freezing occurred from
the bottom of the boat to the top instead from all sides at once. It might
not be appropriate for all but it has worked in my lab for many many years.

just sharing a thought


On Jan 25, 2005, at 8:07 PM, Amos Brooks wrote:

> Hi,
>            I'm snap freezing kidney biopsies in OCT using isopentane that
is
> chilled with liquid nitrogen. I'm having a problem where the area that
> the biopsy is gets raised up above the surface of the block. I'm not
> sure what is going wrong and more importantly what to do about it. Has
> anyone had similar problems and how did you solve it?
>
> Thanks,
> Amos Brooks