[Histonet] frozen myocardium sections

[Geoff McAuliffe]

You could but it would be too cold and might crack the tissue. 
Isopentane becomes a solid and mitagates, for lack of a better word, the 
coldness of  liquid nitrogen.
A good alternative would be to cool the rod with dry ice which is only 
about -80C or so.

Geoff

Merced M Leiker wrote:
> Hi Geoff, just curious...could you not just plunge the rod directly 
> into the liquid N to cool it?
>
> Regards,
> Merced
>
> --On Tuesday, October 06, 2009 10:32 AM -0400 Geoff McAuliffe 
> <mcauliff <@t> umdnj.edu> wrote:
>
>> 1. Cool the isopentane with liquid N. Put a metal rod (aluminum, brass,
>> copper) in the chilled isopentane. Wait for the rod to cool.
>> 2. Put the tissue+OCT on a metal object disk, microtome chuck or even a
>> small metal plate.
>> 3. Put the metal supporting the tissue on the chilled metal rod, the
>> tissue will freeze rapidly without cracking or touching the isopentane.
>> Voila!
>> Put the tissue in the cryostat at the appropriate temperature for
>> sectioning and have some coffee while the tissue "warms up" to cutting
>> temperature.
>>
>> Geoff
>>
>>
>> Jean-Martin Lapointe wrote:
>>> Hi all,
>>>
>>> for a study we are freezing myocardium sections in OCT immersed 
>>> directly
>>> in liquid nitrogen, without isopentane, because apparently isopentane
>>> quenches the fluorescence of the cells we need to detect in the tissue.
>>> Unfortunately the blocks tend to crack after freezing. Does anyone have
>>> a suggestion to avoid cracking ?
>>>
>>> thanks
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> __________________________________
>>>
>>> Jean-Martin Lapointe
>>>
>>> AccelLAB Inc
>>>
>>> jm.lapointe <@t> accellab.com <mailto:jm.lapointe <@t> accellab.com>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
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>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>> -- 
>> -- 
>> **********************************************
>> Geoff McAuliffe, Ph.D.
>> Neuroscience and Cell Biology
>> Robert Wood Johnson Medical School
>> 675 Hoes Lane, Piscataway, NJ 08854
>> voice: (732)-235-4583 mcauliff <@t> umdnj.edu
>> **********************************************
>>
>>
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>
>
>
> Merced M Leiker
> Research Technician II
> Cardiovascular Medicine
> 348 Biomedical Research Building
> State University of New York at Buffalo
> 3435 Main St, Buffalo, NY 14214  USA
> leiker <@t> buffalo.edu
> 716-829-6118 (Ph)
> 716-829-2665 (Fx)
>
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> However, many electrons were severely inconvenienced.
>
>
>


-- 
--
**********************************************
Geoff McAuliffe, Ph.D.
Neuroscience and Cell Biology
Robert Wood Johnson Medical School
675 Hoes Lane, Piscataway, NJ 08854
voice: (732)-235-4583 
mcauliff <@t> umdnj.edu
**********************************************