[Histonet] Purpose of Oven Prior to Staining?

[Laurie Reilly]

Dear Diane,
Your statement that"Ideally, the slides should be dried at
room temperature overnight especially if photographs are going to be made"
fascinates me. Could you please explain the significance of room 
temperature drying
for photomicrography.

         Thanks and regards,  Laurie.

At 02:08 PM 09/18/03 -0400, Gladney, Diane C Ms MACH wrote:
>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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Mr.Laurie Reilly                                              Ph 07 4781 4468
Physiology & Pharmacology                           Fax  07 4779  1526
Aust.Inst.of Tropical Vet.& Animal Sc.
James Cook University
Townsville  Qld. 
4811                                      laurie.reilly <@t> jcu.edu.au 

Australia.