[Histonet] HELP!!! vertical IHC staining artifact and steamer retrival

[shawnster73 <@t> aol.com]

 I'm hoping that you will be able to help me with my staining problem. I am using a vector ABC kit and staining rat lung with ULEX stain. I am using a steamer for 50 minutes for retrival before staining. I retriving in staining dishes that hold 20 slides. I have tried just putting one dish into the steamer and tried puttng 2 dishes into the steamer at a time and still get the same results. I have also tried using the same staining dishes in the same steamer, using the same protocol, but only stained 2 slides and the staining came out beautiful. I have had suggestions of everything from the pap pen caused the problem to the retrival caused it. I am suspicious of the steamer. If you were using a rack in the steamer, is there a distace that you would keep between the slides to ensure proper solution movement so that the slides are not cooked? Any suggestions at all that might help solve my problem would be greatly appreciated. 
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