[Histonet] Re: Rat Brain Serial Sections

[Hobbs, Carl]

My "bread and butter" tissue preps are Pwax brains....often serial sections but not for stereology ( eg: mouse/chick/rat/zfish/monkey).
I routinely, like many others, cut serial sections varying between 10 to 200 sections (  more, if reqd)
They can be prone to "chatter".....
When this happens I either "hughf" on the tissue block as I'm cutting ( Ok, OK....H&S may have concerns): mouth comes close to the block and a gentle expiration of warm, moist air onto the block surface just before the actual cutting 
Works very well although, around the 20th section, a little breather is req ( so one "loses" a section every so often).
Or.......I'll dampen a Kimwipe with 20% alcohol, squeeze until just moist, then before every section is cut, a firm but light forward and backward wipe on the block face.
Both work very well ( H&S may prefer the latter, I prefer the former ;-).
Actions have to be continuous: no jerkiness/stopping!
Keep well away from soaking as the block will swell, losing you far more sections than the above methods.
Others will have different suggestions; the above have worked well for 30+ yrs, and continue to do so.

Breathlessy,

Carl



Carl Hobbs
Histology and Imaging Manager
Wolfson CARD
School of Biomedical Sciences
Kings College London
Guys Campus
SE1 1UL
Tel: 020 78486813
Fax: 020 78486816
020 78486813