[Histonet] Superfrost plus slides

[Mike Bromley]

Hi All

We have had a problem with a batch of Menzel Superfrost Plus slides
(3451272). They have been made in a way that makes them more hydrophobic
than usual.

The problem may not have been noticed by others because it only occurs under
certain circumstances, however the consequences can be extremely serious.

The circumstances are:
1.	Use of a "flatbed" stainer where the slides are held horizontally
2.	Use of a bad batch of slides
3.	Use of these slides for antibodies which do not require pressure
cooking, this usually means enzyme treatment or no treatment (sometimes even
when heat treated in a 95-99* water bath as in the Herceptest) Pressure
cooking the slides seems to overcome the hydrophobic nature of the "bad"
slides.

Wash buffer usually spreads okay on the slides, but when the reagent is
dripped onto the slide it fails to spread evenly. This is usually not a
problem if the section is a single piece of tissue and it is hit by the
drops however if the section is composed of small pieces then some of these
can be missed. Hence your controls may be fine, because they are often a
single piece of a reasonable size, but you may miss a critical piece of
tissue.

I advise everyone who uses a flatbed horizontal stainer for sections not
requiring pressure cook antigen retrieval to watch the addition of the
dropped reagents. This problem is due to batch variation and may be slight
or extreme depending on the batch.

Other users have noted problems with Superfrost Plus slides before (see
histonet archives) We use Superfrost Plus slides because they are better
than home made APES slides especially for our slides that are pressure
cooked in high pH solution.

All our reagents are from Dako and the Autostainer protocol is followed.

Best Wishes

Mike Bromley

Chief Biomedical Scientist
Pathology
Dumfries & Galloway Royal Infirmary
Scotland, UK

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