[Histonet] Frozen Specimen Handling

[sgoebel <@t> mirnarx.com]

Cutting frozen fat is virtually impossible.  There are a few articles I
have seen online (one is called something along the lines of "the fat
demon" or something pun-tastic like that).  Because fat is so oily it
usually doesn't freeze at all.  If you have a lot of fat in the tissue
you are trying to freeze and not just a big hunk of fat (say an inguinal
LN incased in fat), cutting the fatty tissue can be a challenge too.  I
have heard you can try and cut it thicker, but some doc's don't like
that.  Another thing we tried was fixing the fat for about 15 minutes in
Pen-Fix (or some other alcoholic formalin mixture), if you have this
much time then that can also help.
Good Luck!!


Sarah Goebel, BA, HT(ASCP)
Histotechnologist
Mirna Therapeutics
2150 Woodward Street
Suite 100
Austin, Texas  78744
(512)901-0900 ext. 6912



-----Original Message-----
From: histonet-bounces <@t> lists.utsouthwestern.edu
[mailto:histonet-bounces <@t> lists.utsouthwestern.edu] On Behalf Of John
Shelley
Sent: Wednesday, December 22, 2010 2:37 PM
To: histonet <@t> lists.utsouthwestern.edu
Subject: [Histonet] Frozen Specimen Handling

Hi HistoLand,

I have a question regarding frozen specimen handling. I have a group
that gave  me hearts, brown fat and white fat and there are some issues
with the morphology of the tissue and also the cutting quality.
Unfortunately I was part of the whole process from tissue harvesting to
cutting and staining of specimens. We placed harvested tissue in a cryo
mold with OCT and snap froze the block in LN2 and then placed on dry
ice. I know sometimes the quick freeze can cause some effects but was
wondering how others are addressing the freezing of tissue, especially
fat. We have frozen fat this way before and did not have the same
issues. Any help or suggestions would be great. Thanks!!!

Kind Regards!

John Shelley

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