[Histonet] Land snail dissection.

[Greg Dobbin]

Dear Phil (and others),

All this talk of ripping open snail shells, injecting with MgCl2 and 
heaven forbid, fixing alive! Does anyone else out there have to work 
within the constraints of an Animal Care Committee? 

Some of you might be interested to hear that in a an academic 
setting, all procedures carried out on research animals (be it 
crustacean, fish, avian or mammalian) have to be approved under 
guidelines for ethical and humane use and care of animals for 
research. For instance, while I have no objection to boiling my 
lobsters alive at home, at work, lobsters must me properly 
anesthetized prior to humane euthanasia! It's a strange world we 
work in by times!
Cheers!
Greg

Date sent:      	Wed, 08 Sep 2004 15:38:30 -0500
From:           	Philip Oshel <peoshel <@t> wisc.edu>
To:             	Histonet <@t> Pathology.swmed.edu
Copies to:      	Subject:        	RE: [Histonet] Land snail dissection.

> Yep, CaCO3.
> Also yes.
> But, why bother with decalification? Just play crab and crack the 
> shell open. The snail can be removed alive, if unhappy. I'd put it in 
> MgCl2 first, then open the shell and remove the snail, cool it to 
> further relax and anesthetize it, inject fixative into the mantle 
> cavity (and possibly the hemocoel), then immersion-fix it. For 
> sectioning, I'd dissect the snail into smaller pieces to insure 
> proper fixation and infiltration paraffin -- they have a very tough, 
> muscular foot, and the mantle can be as well.
> The radula that Gayle referred to earlier is mostly keratin, but many 
> snails deposit CaCO3 or other minerals (including iron, if I remember 
> right) in the tips of the radular teeth -- either way, it will cause 
> grief when paraffin sectioning. It'd be better to carefully dissect 
> away the radula and mount it whole -- whole mounts of radulae are 
> used in molluc taxonomy anyway. If you do want to section the radula, 
> you will need to plastic embed it.
> 
> Phil
> 
> >Out of curiosity - is the shell made of calcium?  I'm asking because I
> >really don't know - not a trick question?  Isn't a snail out of it's shell
> >just a slug?
> >(Now THAT is a joke.)
> >
> >
> >Jackie O'
> >
> >
> >Jacqueline M. O'Connor HT(ASCP)
> >Abbott Laboratories
> >Global Pharmaceutical Research and Development
> >Discovery Chemotherapeutics
> >847.938.4919
> >Fax 847.938.3266
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >Jose Luis Palazon Fernandez <jluis.palazon <@t> icman.csic.es>
> >Sent by: histonet-bounces <@t> lists.utsouthwestern.edu
> >09/08/2004 11:56 AM
> >
> >
> >         To:     histonet <@t> pathology.swmed.edu
> >         cc:
> >         Subject:        Re: RE: [Histonet] Land snail dissection.
> >
> >
> >If the snail is small I recomend you to fix the whole snail and after
> >fixation, decalcify it with 10 % EDTA. then process and include the whole
> >snail. Hope this help
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >El dia 08/09/2004 18:23 usted envio el siguiente mensaje:
> >
> >>Date: 8 de Septiembre de 2004 18:23:01
> >
> >>From: "Smith, Allen" <asmith <@t> mail.barry.edu>
> >
> >>Subject: RE: [Histonet] Land snail dissection.
> >
> >>To: gcallis <@t> montana.edu, histonet <@t> pathology.swmed.edu
> >
> >>
> >
> >>  Many centuries ago, I forced a snail out of its shell by shredding a
> >pack of
> >
> >>  cigarettes into a pint of water and dropping the snail into it.
> >
> >>  Borradaile's THE INVERTEBRATA has instructions for dissecting the
> >European
> >
> >>  garden snail Helix pomatia (pp. 604-610 in the 4th edition).  The book
> >is
> >
> >>  out of print, but available used.
> >
> >>
> >
> >>  Allen A. Smith, Ph.D.
> >
> >>  Professor of Anatomy
> >
> >>  Barry University
> >
> >>  School of Graduate Medical Sciences
> >
> >>              Podiatric Medicine and Surgery
> >
> >>  Miami Shores, Florida



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Greg Dobbin
Pathology Lab
Atlantic Veterinary College, U.P.E.I.
550 University Ave.
Charlottetown, P.E.I.
Canada,  C1A 4P3
Phone: (902)566-0744
Fax: (902)566-0851
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Happiness is a journey, not a destination.