[Histonet] Decalcifying mouse heads

[Caroline Stott]

Hi there,
We used formic acid to decalcify our mouse heads.  They didn't take too 
long (1 week) although I cant remember how long precisely.  And yes they 
were used for immuno studies.  We had a few studies, one for temporal bones 
and another for the whole head.  They worked fine.
Caroline


We are interested in decalcifying whole heads from adult mice in order to 
examine histological sections throughout the oral cavity and esophagus. Are 
you aware what would be appropriate for such a large piece of tissue, or 
how long it would take to decalcify? In the future we would like to have 
the option of performing immunohistochemistry on our decalcified samples. 
Do you have any experience with IHC on such large decalcified samples?



Caroline Stott

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