[Histonet] storage of frozen cryosections (again)

[John Kiernan]

If you put the slides in the freezer after the sections 
have dried, there shouldn't be enough water in the tissue 
to form visible ice crystals. It's important to wrap the the
slides up in something airtight, and with some dessicant 
(drierite or silica gel). Don't unwrap the packet until its 
contents have warmed to room temperature, or water will 
condense on the cold sections - quite damaging if the 
tissue is unfixed.
-- 
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John A. Kiernan
Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology
The University of Western Ontario
London,   Canada   N6A 5C1
   kiernan[AT]uwo.ca
   http://publish.uwo.ca/~jkiernan/
   http://instruct.uwo.ca/anatomy/530/index.htm
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Anna Elisse Beaudin wrote:
> 
> Dear Histonet,
> 
>    I have a question regarding the storage and preservation of frozen
> cryosections.  I apologize if I have asked this question before, but
> I'm still unclear as to the best approach.  Currently, when I collect
> cryosections, I dry them overnight at room temp and than use them
> immediately the next day.  however, I would like to be able to collect
> sections to use at later timepoints.  My concern is that O/N drying at
> room temperature followed by freezing and storage at -20 or -80 might
> cause ice crystals or otherwise affect the quality and morphology of my
> sections.  Additionally, even if I were to freeze the sections
> immediately following sectioning, they are still collected on slides at
> room temperature, and thus I wonder if I would have the same problem
> with thaw/freeze.  I would greatly appreciate anyone's advice with
> this... I would really like to be able to preserve more sections for
> later use!
> 
> Thanks so much in advance!
> Anna Beaudin
> Division of Nutritional Sciences
> Cornell University