[Histonet] Water collecting at bottom of sections

[Collette, Nicole M.]

I use FisherBrand SuperFrost Plus charged slides, the only time I have this problem is when my waterbath is too hot, or if for some reason I use warmed slides to retrieve my sections from the bath (like if you lay the unused slides on the edge of the waterbath, or if you use the warm droplet method to spread your sections)? I haven't had much experience with a lot of different slide types/brands though, but it might be an easy fix to the problem you hadn't thought about, as it is more or less unrelated to the brand of slide, although some brands may be more sensitive to this issue...

Sincerely,
Nicole Collette
Lawrence Livermore National Lab/ UC Berkeley 

-----Original Message-----
From: histonet-bounces <@t> lists.utsouthwestern.edu [mailto:histonet-bounces <@t> lists.utsouthwestern.edu] On Behalf Of napoli <@t> mail.siscom.net
Sent: Friday, July 23, 2010 11:04 AM
To: histonet <@t> lists.utsouthwestern.edu
Subject: [Histonet] Water collecting at bottom of sections

Hello all,

>From time to time and depending on what brand of adhesive
(or charged) slides I am using, I seem to get a "bag" of
water that drains to the bottom of my sections but doesn't
drain "out".

I have been working in microtomy a long time and have had to
deal with this contingency time and time again, but never
really have gotten to the bottom of the problem. I spoke
with a premium manufacturer of such slides and they seemed
to indicate that it is a problem with the coating, but
couldn't tell me for sure.

All I know is that certain brands do this more than others.
If you know what I mean, you know it is a problem. My bath
is pure distilled H2O with no gelatin or Sta-on added. It is
if the adhesive properties are SO good that they will not
release the water when vertically drained and have to be
shaken off or cut with a razor blade at bottom to release
the water.

Anyway, if anyone has an insight or two on this, I would be
interested. It seem sthe most challenging issues are ones
that seem related to some of the most simple tasks that one
has performed for many years!! Manufacturers understand what
I mean, but cannot pinpoint the problem for me via phone or
e-mail.

Anyone see this and have a chemical/mechanical solution they
have developed over the years?


Thanks!

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