[Histonet] histolab-organisation

[Hans Ooms]

Dear fellow-histonetters,

I've had some discussion about the following two subjects :

First :

Every histologylab has its own way of tissueprocessing, as we all know; one lab will choose paraffinesectioning and mounting performed by one tech, the other chooses for sectioning by one tech, supported by a second tech who will mount the sections.
(using waterbaths), i.e. one microtome, two techs.

Does anyone of you have experience with both methods and what method is the most efficient? I've had experience with both and I think the latter is, but had some arguing with colleagues about this subject.

Second :

We use waterbaths to stretch paraffinsections and put some glycerine (app. 10 ml : 1000 ml water) in the bath for better mounting. The results are usually satisfying, except for very greasy tissue (lumps, mainly).
Some labs use waterbaths and prepared slides (manually putting a film of glycerine on it) resulting in more background staining, depending the concentration of glycerine.

Does anyone know a method which provides great mounting results, fairly no loss of tissue and absence of background staining ?

Thanks very much in advance !!

Hans Ooms
Histotech
The Netherlands