[Histonet] Frozen brains on cryostat

[Grantham, Andrea L - (algranth)]

Aggghhhhhhhhh! Cryosectioning brains! 
There are many tricks and I have just learned after 13 years of struggling with them a few of the tricks.
Most of the brains I have to section are rodent and they have been fixed and sucrose protected. Sometimes they are in OCT and other times not.
First trick - keep the slides in the cryostat so they are cold.
Cut your section and tamp out any wrinkles or folds (or as many as possible). Then put a slide on top of the section and hopefully it will stick. Then very carefully rub a warm finger on the back of the slide to melt and further attach the section to the slide. Start at one end and move down over the rest of the tissue. This should get you a wrinkle and bubble free section. 
Somebody on histonet suggested this about a year ago and I was tired of pulling out my hair trying to get good frozen brain sections so I tried it and IT WORKED!!!!!
You might be able to find the original post in the histonet archives. 

Andi G.

On May 1, 2012, at 10:12 AM, Emily Sours wrote:

> If they haven't been fixed, good luck! I've never been able to section
> unfixed tissue.
> Then again, I work with embryonic tissue only.
> Have you tried sectioning at a smaller section size?
> 
> Emily
> 
> 
> 
> The whole point of this country is if you want to eat garbage, balloon up
> to 600 pounds and die of a heart attack at 43, you can! You are free to do
> so. To me, that’s beautiful.
> --Ron Swanson
> 
> 
> 
> 
> On Tue, May 1, 2012 at 12:53 PM, Andrea Ferullo (non-Celgene) <
> aferullo <@t> celgene.com> wrote:
> 
>> Hello everyone,
>> 
>> I recently received rat brain samples that were frozen in liquid nitrogen
>> and embedded in OCT.  I sectioned them on the cryostat and they are coming
>> out very wrinkled, no matter what technique I use to pick them up.  I would
>> appreciate any tips/tricks  that anyone has to offer.  Forebrain sections
>> are ok, but mid, hind-brain, and cerebellum are giving me a very hard time.
>> Thanks and I look forward to your advice.
>> 
>> Andrea
>> 
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