[Histonet] Formic Acid Recipe

[Patsy Ruegg]

Jesus,

The formic acid (5%) will decalcify the hydroxyapatite which can be very
hard and crunchy to cut but since you ground the section I guess you don't
care about that.  I would be concerned though that the formic acid might
also cause you to lose staining of some cell components that depend on the
calcium.  The methyl methacrylate can be removed from the section by xylene
like deparaffinizing paraffin sections.  It works for methyl methacrylate
but nothing removes glycol methacrylate.

Regards,

Patsy 

Patsy Ruegg, HT(ASCP)QIHC
IHCtech
12635 Montview Blvd. Ste.215
Aurora, CO 80045
720-859-4060
fax 720-859-4110
www.ihctech.net 
www.ihcrg.org


-----Original Message-----
From: histonet-bounces <@t> lists.utsouthwestern.edu
[mailto:histonet-bounces <@t> lists.utsouthwestern.edu] On Behalf Of Jesus
Hernandez
Sent: Friday, November 04, 2011 3:41 PM
To: histonet <@t> lists.utsouthwestern.edu
Subject: [Histonet] Formic Acid Recipe

Dear all,

I was having trouble staining Human embryonic palatal mesenchymal cells with
multi-stain solution. My PI told me to use formic acid on the samples so
that it could increase the permeability of the methyl methacrylate. I am not
sure if this is enough information, but the cells were loaded on
hydroxyapatite scaffolds. I have also tried aniline blue and villaneuva
stain. Any information on how I can make a solution of formic acid is
appreciated along with maybe other stains I could try using. Each sample was
grinded to about 50 microns. Thank you.

Best Regards,

 Jesus W. Hernandez
Graduate Student
Department of Biomedical Engineering
University of Texas at San Antonio
jesus.w.hdz <@t> gmail.com



_______________________________________________
Histonet mailing list
Histonet <@t> lists.utsouthwestern.edu
http://lists.utsouthwestern.edu/mailman/listinfo/histonet