[Histonet] RE: Wrinkle Out Water Bath

[gayle callis]

You wrote: 

Is anybody using this product, Wrinkle Out Water Bath H
<http://lists.utsouthwestern.edu/mailman/listinfo/histonet> <@t> O, in their
waterbaths and what precautions are you taking if so?
The label states that the product is highly toxic, a hepatoxin.
I received a sample of it and wasn't aware of its toxicity before I
requested the sample at the NSH S/C.
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In reading the MSDS for this product, all it contains is 1% isopropyl, 18%
Ethanol, and 1% methanol citing possible damage to liver.  Why not avoid
spending the money and just use 20% ethanol in your water bath according to
how this product is used.    It will work just as well as this.    You could
even make up your own mixture with isopropyl and ethanol, forget the more
toxic and expensive methanol.   These alcohols are all used for tissue
processing e.g. denatured reagent alcohols, isopropyl, ethanol and/or
methanol alone, and just as toxic to the liver.     
 
Beware!  Too high of an alcohol concentration can cause your sections to
explode on a warm water bath.  We never used alcohol in warm water bath to
flatten tissue sections.  Instead, we used RT 10% ethyl alcohol in a glass
staining dish, floated a section on this, picked up section onto a slide
then went to a warm water bath, gently lowered the section but kept top
paraffin portion of section on the slide, and watch the section flatten in
the warm water.   This prevented a section from exploding wildly or losing
the section on the water bath.     All the alcohol or a detergent does is
reduce the surface tension of the water so the section flattens.   Tween 20
has been used too. 
 
I don't think any of these damage IHC since the antigens are still protected
by the paraffin in the tissue section.   
 
Gayle Callis
HTL/HT/MT(ASCP)
Bozeman MT