[Histonet] Paraffin embedding of whole mouse brain

[Sorin Musat]

Hi Samala
I did some 10 years ago coronal sections on rat brains (cerebellum was not interesting to my client - he needed BrdU staining, so it was discarded). The resulting blocks were approx 2 cm tall. The only option was to make my own X-tra deep molds (heavy gauge aluminum foil and aluminum tape did the trick). The blocks were very tall but by shaping them carefully (wider base) and sectioning very slowly I was able to achieve serial sectioning (saved 3 sections every 50 microns step). Sectioning the 125 brains to completion took me almost a month and a damaged wrist. But the project turned out OK.So, I think you could make your own molds fairly easily. Just make sure processing is done well (gently), the blocks are properly shaped and the chuck is keeping the block vibration-free. Keep a rim of paraffin around the brain, 5-6 mm at a minimum and lower the temperature of the flotation bath.
Good Luck!
Sorin MusatThemis PathologyBucharest, RomaniaformerlyHistoBest Inc.Edmonton, Alberta 
      From: Emily Brown <talulahgosh <@t> gmail.com>
 To: "Samala, Ramakrishna" <ramakrishna.samala <@t> ttuhsc.edu> 
Cc: "histonet <@t> lists.utsouthwestern.edu" <histonet <@t> lists.utsouthwestern.edu> 
 Sent: Friday, April 10, 2015 7:17 PM
 Subject: Re: [Histonet] Paraffin embedding of whole mouse brain
   
We use these--22mm deep.  They are disposable.  You can only get them from
Polysciences too.
https://www.tedpella.com/Embedding_html/Peel-A-Way_Disposable_Histology_Molds.htm

Emily

"By bitching and bitching and bitching, they could exhaust the drama of
their own horror stories. Grow bored. Only then could they accept a new
story for their lives. Move forward."

-Chuck Palahniuk, "Haunted"

On Fri, Apr 10, 2015 at 10:00 AM, Samala, Ramakrishna <
ramakrishna.samala <@t> ttuhsc.edu> wrote:

> Hello Histonet!
>
> I would like to paraffin embed whole mouse brain to obtain coronal
> sections. I spoke with customer support teams of several companies, I could
> able to get 10 mm deep molds,  but the mouse brain is about 13 mm height.
> So, any help in this regard is much appreciated.
>
> Sincerely
>
> Ramakrishna Samala, Ph.D.
> Senior Research Associate
> Amarillo Research Building, School of Pharmacy, Texas Tech University
> Health Sciences Center
> 1406 S. Coulter
> Amarillo, TX 79106
>
> The outcome of any serious research can only be to make two questions grow
> where only one grew before –Thorstein Veblen
>
>
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