[Histonet] plant anatomy - sectioning problems

[yvan lindekens]

Hi all,

I'm trying to cut some plant samples but I have lots
of problems with the samples containing even the
smallest amount of wood (f.e. young white deadnettle
stems - Lamium album L.).

A thickness of 15 micron is the thinnest I can get,
without the ribbon scattering longitudaly after only a
few sections. Whiping the blade with a cloth moisted
with some xylene solves the problem, but only for
another 2 or 3 sections... I use a Leica-Jung Autocut
1140 and Feather S/R/N 35 blades.

Cutting at veeeeeeryyyyy looooow speed gives slightly
better results but still not good enough!

When sectioned on a sliding microtome(Reichert-Jung
Hn-40, Feather S/R/N 35 blades, declination angle +/-
130°), the sections are okay, but I would like to use
a rotary. 

Samples were fixed in AFA, processed by hand using an
ETOH/IPA/xylene protocol. On the other hand I
processed some samples using a tert. butyl alcohol
schedule. There's hardly any difference between the
two regarding sectioning properties...

By the way: is there something as a "standard
thickness" for plantanatomical sections? 

Thanks in advance for every suggestion!

Yvan.

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