[Histonet] paraffin sections

[Merced Leiker]

Hi James,

While I know that others with more experience are going to reply and have 
very good insights to add, in my few years of experience I've stored the 
paraffin sections at room temp. for up to several months.  Sections are 
stored only after baking them in a 60 C for 1 hour.  This baking is done 
after the cut slides have air dried overnight.  I have not had problems 
with the sections falling off.

I know that optimum paraffin section storage is a topic of debate - ambient 
air vs. nitrogen vs. covered in paraffin; 4 C vs. room temp., as well as 
the length of storage.  While I haven't seen any report of sections falling 
off due to how they are stored, maybe others on this list have.  There may 
be other issues, like what type of slides or paraffin blend you use.  In 
our lab we use Superfrost Adhesive Slides Platinum Line (Mercedes Medical) 
and Polyfin (paraffin blended with plasticizers).  Also, epitope and tissue 
type may be a factor.  I stain for VWF, Beta-catenin, and cytoskeletal 
markers such as Myosin Heavy Chain and Tropopin I, all on rodent skeletal 
muscle and heart tissues, and so far haven't had any problems that I can 
tell are due to how the sections are stored.

Hope this helps in some way!

Merced


--On Wednesday, October 08, 2008 9:31 AM -0700 James Dooley 
<jdooley2008 <@t> yahoo.com> wrote:

> I am a beginning to do paraffin section. I need to know the following as
> I have heard many things and I have received my best advice here. As of
> this moment I was storing them at 4 degrees following sections. The
> problem I am having is many of my section have been coming off when I
> deparaffinize the tissue. I have been baking the tissue for 60 minutes
> prior to the deparaffiniztion step.
>
> 1. How to store them?
> 2. How long they can be stored?
> 3. Under what conditions should they be stored?
> 4. When melting the paraffin how long should this be done for and at what
> temperature prior to deparaffinization?
>
>
> Thank you,
> James
>
>
>
>
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Merced M Leiker
Research Technician II
354 BRB (Lee Lab) / 140 Farber Hall (mail)
School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences
State University of New York at Buffalo
3435 Main St, Buffalo, NY 14214
Ph: (716) 829-6033
Fx: (716) 829-2725

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