[Histonet] Processing "plastics" / resins

[Caroline Stott]

Hi Mark,
Heres what we do:
After fixation place into
70% a few hrs
95% alc 10 min-1 hr
Absolute alc 10 min-1hr
Glycolmethacrylate (GMA) 1st change 30 mins-4 hrs
GMA 2 30 mins-overnight
GMA 3 30 mins-24 hrs
GMA 4 30 mins-24 hrs
Prepare new monomer 88ml 2-hydroxyethylmethacrylate
                         12ml 2 butoxyethanol
                         0.45g Benzoyl peroxide
Then add promoter to monomer as 1:50.
                         8 ml polyethylene glycol 400
                         1 ml NN Dimethylaniline
There is no clearing necessary.  You can dip straight into your dye with 
out hydrating the slides.
Hope that helps
Caroline


Good morning everyone !

Excuse my ignorance on this issue,but I have never processed or stained
tissues with resins such as Glycolmethacrylate or Methylmethacrylate. Do
you normally run the tissues through a clearing agent for processing and
staining? I didn't think you needed to except for the end of the staining
process. If you do use a clearant in any step of the process, can you use a
Xylene substitute like Shandon Xylene substitute ?

Thanks in advance for your replies !

Mark



Caroline Stott

Histology Service Unit
Medical School
University of Otago
Dunedin
(03) 479 7152