[Histonet] fixing tissues with zinc formalin

[Christian Franci]

Hello histokids!

I tried looking in the archives but there were too many past postings 
labeled "zinc formalin" that didn't address my questions so, I decided 
to post instead.

is there one particular brand that works better or, is all commercially 
available zF about the same?  Buffered better than not?

for fixing tissues such as small tumors of no more than half a mL in 
volume, is there a good rule of thumb?
(I know that for NBF if we pickle more than 8 hrs we can't retrieve any 
epitopes later on... does that happen as well with zinc formalin?)

  I seem to recall  people mentioning that the zinc precipitaties?  Does 
the fixed tissue need to be rinsed before putting it in the processor?

any pointers or tricks are more than welcomed!

Thanks in advance.

Chris