[Histonet] Remove OCT from frozen tissue block

[Benoît Delatour]

Dear histoneters,
We got mice brains that were initially sucrose-cryoprotected and then 
embedded in OCT - flash frozen and stored at -80°C. These tissues were 
initially prepared for subsequent cryostat sectioning but due to 
technical considerations we need to cut them using a sliding microtome 
to get thick (40µm) floating sections. We therefore would like to remove 
OCT before cutting. As OCT is water soluble it is expected that placing 
the OCT blocks in buffer would help removing the embedding media but 
thawing the tissue and then re-freezing it on the microtome stage might 
not be the best way to proceed (expected formation of ice crystals with 
known associated histological artefacts)...
We would appreciate any alternative solutions. Thanks!
Benoît