[Histonet] Bubbles in embedding

[sharon.osborn <@t> comcast.net]

There is a technic that some techs discover/figure out with observation in doing these tasks.You may wish to try what I do: When filling the mold with the melted paraffin, place just enough to make a skin to hold the tissue in orientation.  Place the tissue with quick chill then add more melted paraffin to the rim of the mold.  Most bubbles occur when the paraffin is below the rim of the block when placing the plastic top on.  Gently place the plastic top on the mold with paraffin and tissue.  The paraffin immediately creates a connection (seal) with the plastic top. Now, add a thin layer of paraffin and place on the cold plate to partially set up (cool) then add the rest of the paraffin.  Rarely do I have bubbles in the paraffin when I use this technic.  It can be done quickly, succinctly and successfully with practice.  My problem comes when the cold plate becomes full and there is no more room because the first molded blocks are not quite ready to be removed. Solution is to have
 another cold plate available.  It also helps when the cold plates get cold enough and stay that way to begin with.
 
Sharon Osborn 
LabVision
ThermoFisher Scientific
Fremont, CA
 
 
 
Message: 9
Date: Sat, 30 Jun 2007 00:17:44 EDT
From: Asf2k3 <@t> aol.com
Subject: [Histonet] Re: Histonet Digest, Vol 43, Issue 35
To: histonet <@t> lists.utsouthwestern.edu
Message-ID: <c1d.1afacb91.33b73368 <@t> aol.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"
 
What is the best way to not have bubbles when embedding tissue in mold.  Well 
I know one way, tap the top cover, the bubble will go away, but this is too  
time consuming if you have 100 blocks to embed in 1 hr and half time frame.  
Does any one know what quicker way is possible?
A