[Histonet] Purpose of Oven Prior to Staining?

[Gladney, Diane C Ms MACH]

Jordan,

The purpose of the slide dryer or oven is to dry the water off of the
slides. The slides should be well drained to remove as much water as
possible before placing them in the rack before it is placed in the oven.
It is not and will not deparaffinize the slides. The slides must be
completely free of water before they are stained either by hand or on an
automatic slide stainer. Any histological technique book will tell you that
the deparaffinization is accomplished by using xylene, xylene substitute or
other appropriate paraffin solvent. Ideally, the slides should be dried at
room temperature overnight especially if photographs are going to be made.
But few labs have this much time. A drier that has a temperature in excess
of 60 degrees C will cause some artifacts. Our autostainer has a built-in
forced air dryer that the slides stay in for 10 - 15 minutes. If we have a
rack on the stainer and have another rack ready for the stainer, we place
this rack in a small forced air dryer set for 15 minutes then remove and
wait on the stainer to finish before adding another rack. The slide dryer
then is by-passed and the dried slides go directly to the first xylene
substitute (what we use instead of xylene) for deparaffinization. If they
still won't believe you, have them try to stain some "dried slides" and see
the results.

Good Luck,
Diane

Diane C. Gladney, HT (ASCP)
Histology /Cytology Supervisor
Moncrief Army Community Hospital
P.O. BOX 484
4500 Stuart Ave.
FT. Jackson, SC 29207

(803) 751-2530
DSN 734-2530

EMAIL: diane.gladney <@t> se.amedd.army.mil  OR
                 dcgx1 <@t> aol.com


-----Original Message-----
From: Jordan Brod [mailto:jbrod <@t> tvmdl.tamu.edu]
Sent: Thursday, September 18, 2003 10:41 AM
To: histonet <@t> lists.utsouthwestern.edu
Subject: [Histonet] Purpose of Oven Prior to Staining?


Good Morning All:

My lab is in a huge discussion about the reason why we put our slides in an
oven before staining.  I told them that the reason was to dry all of the
water off of them, because xylene and water do not mix.  This statement is
also backed up in literature that I have read.  They still do not believe
me, because they think the purpose of the oven is to deparaffinize the
slides.

Can anyone help me out, so I can put this discussion to rest?  I will print
off all of your comments for my technicians to read.  Is what I told them
correct or not?

Thanks.


 

********************************************************************
Jordan W. Brod
Diagnostic Lab Supervisor - Pathology
Texas Veterinary Medical Diagnostic Laboratory (TVMDL)
1 Sippel Road
TAMU 4471
College Station, Texas 77843
(979) 845-3414
(979) 845-1794 fax
jbrod <@t> tvmdl.tamu.edu


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