[Histonet] slide drying, cyto/hist field changes/ non formalin fix

[JColCLEFA <@t> aol.com]

If this is for drying after cutting & before staining, we are all ( routine 
and IHC) m-wave and nuke em for 3 minutes. We use 130 different primary 
antibodies and have never had an issue with staining compared to oven dried. Ovens we 
kept at 60C and dried for 30 min. For Brains when we stain Bielschowsky(sp?) 
we nuke and then hold at 40C overnight. If you mean drying after 
coverslipping, 40c for two-three days for permount and not at all for auto celluloid 
machines.

Cyto changes- in addition to the popularity of mechanized cyto readers   the 
development of an HPV vaccine is on the horizon further squeezing the future 
utility of pap smears (HPV vaccine=less HPV = very little cx ca=less PAP smear 
relevance)   The looming change for Histo is the 2005 AS degree requirement 
for HT's, adding an additional roadblock for some prospective techs.   (I 
believe in the change though- we need more respect!)

As most IHC procedures are optimized for formalin, I would really hate the 
headache of retitring and reworking all my antibodies to accomodate these 
"alternative" fixatives