[Histonet] Accidentally frozen NBF fixed tissue

[Kim Merriam]

Nora,
   
  A couple of years ago, one of the researchers sent me some OCT pancreas samples in dry ice and, to save time, also put the NBF-fixed pancreas' in the same container.  Needless to say that the formalin (and the tissues) were frozen solid when they got here.  I processed them, did H&Es and a bunch of IHC's on them.  They were fine, the artifact was minimal.
   
  Here's another interesting story.  One of the researchers decided that he wanted some histology on some Zucker rat livers that had been snap-frozen in liquid nitrogen and stored at -80 for a year.  I thought that we might be able to salvage the samples, so I took livers and placed them into cold formalin and they "puffed-up" within about an hour.  I let them fix overnight at room temperature, trimmed them down to size, let them fix another day and then processed as usual.  I did H&Es and Trichromes on them.  They did not look too bad, the sinusoidal spaces were wider than normal, but since the pathologist was aware of what had happened to the tissue, he was able to get some good data out if the study.
   
  Good luck with your samples,
  Kim
   
  

Nora Berghoff <NBerghoff <@t> cvm.tamu.edu> wrote:
  Hello all,

Someone in our lab accidentally froze 10% NBF fixed pancreas at -80
degree C.
They now want to get slides for H&E etc off that. Does anyone know
whether this tissue is still usable after being frozen? 
Obviously it is not good to freeze fixed tissue, but has anyone ever
done that and still gotten usable results? I would appreciate any input!


Thanks so much,

Nora Berghoff


**************************************
Nora Berghoff, med. vet.
Research Assistant
Gastrointestinal Laboratory
College of Veterinary Medicine
Texas A&M University
Phone: (979) 458 2293 (w)
*************************************
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Kim Merriam, MA, HT(ASCP)
Novartis
Cambridge, MA
		
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