[Histonet] Section adherence issues (IHC)

[Greg Dobbin]

Hi Folks,
I haven't been on here much lately but it is nice to know that we are all
here for each other when needed!

My problem is section adherence during IHC staining. And it is not all of
the time it is intermittent; so not all of the time and not on all slides
when it does occur.

Background:
We have a Bond-III immunostainer and we use the Leica Apex charged slides
for our IHC stains. We have no additives in our water baths. Our sections
drain in a stand and then any trapped water under the section is either
flicked or wicked away as needed prior to placing the slides in a rack in a
60 C oven for 30 mins prior to staining.  We do not do on board baking
(primarily because on board baking is only 10 mins long and with the
section lifting issue we want longer).

Some of the specimen types are more susceptible it would seem. Cervix LEEP
specimens tend to be bad, we use a 4mm punch to obtain some of our control
tissue and so the breast tissue we use for Myosin Heavy Chain seems to be a
bad one and sometimes our ER/PR control sections (but not always). Fine
needle cores where a lot of tumour is present tend to be bad (again not
always).

We have tried baking longer, we turn ourselves inside out trying to get all
of the water out from under the sections, we have tried charged slides from
another manufacturer. I have looked at the HIER protocols and none are
extraordinary in nature. We use very clean covertiles (no scratches or
blemishes). Our specimens are fixed for 24hrs before processing. We use the
same slides for Special Stains and don't have this issue there.

I need some new suggestions to try! All ideas welcome.
Cheers,
Greg

-- 
*Greg Dobbin*
1205 Pleasant Grove Rd
RR#2 York,
PE      C0A 1P0


*Everything in moderation...even moderation itself**!*