[Histonet] mouse skeletal muscle frozen section prep

[Harvey, Jennifer Lynn]

Talc is used to reduce ice artifact in muscle. We are a clinical lab and
receive muscles in various states. If the muscle is held in saline the
chance for ice artifact increases greatly. We treat all muscles with talc
just incase. 
You don't have to use a plastic mold or even totally coat the sample with
OCT, freezing in liquid nitrogen is fine.
Usually you do not fix the tissue before freezing but some research
applications do. But one of the reasons to do frozens, is to avoid fixation.


Jennifer Harvey, HT(ASCP) QIHC
Vanderbilt University Medical Center
Neuropathology Lab Supervisor
C-2309 Medical Center North
Nashville, TN  37232-2561
Phone: 615-343-0083
Fax: 615-343-7089

On 2/8/11 9:51 AM, "Spinette, Sarah" <sspinette <@t> ric.edu> wrote:

> I am new to working with mouse skeletal muscle and have been reading about
> various methods for preparing and freezing tissue for sectioning.
> 
> I have heard of the benefits of coating the tissue in talc prior to freezing
> but have not yet seen a single protocol that describes the use of talc and OCT
> or other medium IN plastic molds, can you still use talc and then plunge the
> tissue into cold OCT in the mold end then plunge the entire block into LiN2
> (we do not have isopentane)?
> 
> Also, can anyone comment about when and how they choose to fix the tissue
> first and if they use paraformaldehyde before freezing?
> 
> Thank you!
> 
> 
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