[Histonet] Cutting, Processing, etc

[Catherine Simonson]

Well, to answer you questions in order base on my experience in most of the
labs I have worked in, except one:

1) after embedding we face in all our blocks.  as we face them in, we place
the blocks on a pan of melting ice to a) chill them and b) allow the tissue
to absorb a bit of moisture.  all tissues are treated the same, keeping in
mind that some tissue may need a little longer to soak on ice pan than
others, but not much.

2) a new blade is always used for taking the "keeper" sections.
3) except for one lab, "freezy spray" has never been used.  too easy to over
chill the block and cause freezing artifacts that way.  which, oddly enough,
does not happen on melting ice.
4) even though you did not ask, I will also say, that the slides when cut
are placed standing up for a few minutes to properly drain before applying
any heat.  if the slides are not allowed to drain before placing in the oven
and stained (this goes for routine H&E as well as immuno)  the sections will
not adhere to the slides properly and will be prone to floating
off/fragmenting during staining.  It should also be noted that if all slides
are allowed to dry thourouly before heat and staining there is little to no
need for adding adhesive to the water bath.

Hope this helps.

Catherine
On Thu, Sep 16, 2010 at 11:38 AM, Senn, Amy R <arsenn <@t> hsh.org> wrote:

> Hello Histoland!
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> I have some questions about procedures in different histo labs and I'd
> like to have some 'backup' when people look at me like I'm crazy here...
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> After embedding, you face (trim) your blocks, right? Do you take
> sections right from that same blade, or move/change your blade?
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> How many of you 'soak' your blocks in water/softblock before cutting
> them? Do you put them on a cold plate/use ice and water, etc? Does this
> depend on the type of tissue, or do you treat them all the same?
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> How often is "freezy" spray used in your lab, and where and when do you
> use it?
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> How often do you rotate/change your reagents in your processors? Do you
> calculate this by how many blocks/days/weeks of use?
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> Thank you so much for your input!!
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> Amy Senn, HT
>
> Holy Spirit Hospital, Camp Hill PA
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