[Histonet] cryosections

[Instrumedics]

Frozen sectioning can be difficult and requires a skillful hand. It is often 
hard  to produce a flat, unfolded, fully intact section using the 
conventional  method of retrieving a section on a room temperature slide. 
The result of melting the unfixed section to mount it on the warm slide 
degrades the morphology.

With the  CryoJane Tape-Transfer process the section is captured on a COLD 
tape as it is being cut . The section is flat, uncompressed, intact and  as 
thin a 2 microns. The section is transferred to a COLD slide.   The section 
is still frozen and the morphology preserved A choice of fixation is then 
made depending on the staining protocol to follow. This method makes it 
possible to cut hard tissue or fatty tissue which is often very problematic.

The CryoJane process is easy to learn and makes preparing difficult frozen 
sections easy.

For the details of the CryoJane process please visit our web site 
www.instrumedics.com

Bernice
Instrumedics

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Kelly D Mcqueeney" <kelly.mcqueeney <@t> bms.com>
To: "Till, Renee" <TillRenee <@t> uams.edu>
Cc: <histonet <@t> lists.utsouthwestern.edu>
Sent: Thursday, February 24, 2005 11:54 AM
Subject: Re: [Histonet] cryosections


> Renee,
>
> You should insist on an in-depth training from the vendor. Ask for a 4 
> hour training from their cryostat expert, not some sales person. They 
> should offer it to you. The technique is standard but varies from user to 
> user. You'll have to find your way.  I am going to give you our standard 
> protocol for brain IHC.
>
> 1) Remove fresh tissue, dip in mounting medium (we use Shandon embedding 
> medium, or you can skip this step) and immediately freeze in ice-cold 
> isopentane (keep on dry ice for 30 minutes prior to freezing). For rat 
> brain, we freeze for 20 seconds. Remove from isopentane and place tissue 
> in a conical tube (some people use molds). Leave the tube on dry ice and 
> immediately store at -70C.
>
> 2) Remove tissue from -70C and place in -20C freezer for 1 hour to 
> equilibrate.
>
> 3) Drop embedding medium on chuck, add tissue and freeze base with 
> cytocool. Cover tissue with embedding medium (we dip and freeze with 
> cytocool).
>
> 4) Place chuck in cryostat and section tissue. I use probe on plus slides 
> from Fisher or Superfrost from VWR.
>
> 5) Once sections are mounted on slides, dry slides completely  for 1 hour 
> RT and store at -80C until ready to use.
>
> 6) Remove slides from freezer and thaw at RT for 15 minutes. Place slides 
> in fix and stain or perform IHC.
>
> There are many different methods for sectioning/storing, etc. Times, 
> tissue, temperature and protocols will vary from lab to lab or person to 
> person.
>
> Have fun!
> Kelly
>
> Till, Renee wrote:
>
>>Hello.  Our research group just purchased our first cryostat. Until now,
>>anytime cryosections were needed we had to send out our tissues to
>>another lab. Is there a good book or other source for general
>>information about cryosectioning? I am the only histotech in the group,
>>but have had virtually no experience with cryosections. I know the other
>>general techs that also do some histology are going to come to me with
>>all their questions. We basically need to know anything and everything.
>>Due to the volume of tissues, sectioning won't be performed right as the
>>tissues are removed from the animal. How do you store them? Do you fix,
>>and when? What type of slides are best? How do you store the slides
>>after cryosectioning? Are there specific considerations to take into
>>account as far as fixing, or anything else depending on the tissue or
>>what stains will be performed on it? For example, I know already that
>>there will be some heart and aorta sectioned for fat stains, some pig
>>gi, possibly mammary gland, uterus, and mouse lung with b-gal.
>>Thanks in advance for any help or suggestions you can give me.
>>
>>
>>Renee'
>>
>>
>>
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>
>
>