[Histonet] Frozen sections and cold acetone...

[Morken, Timothy]

Can anyone give me a rational for using cold (refrig or freezer-temp) acetone to fix frozen sections? Or a rational for using RT acetone.

This is for kidney or muscle bx frozens for immmunofluroescence or immunoperoxidase staining.

Normally they air dry for at least 15 minutes (just waiting for frozen sectioning to be completed) before going into acetone. Just wondering if we can reduce complexity...

I haven't seen anything saying why cold acetone is used, just instructions to do so. I always wonder about such things...

Tim Morken
Supervisor, Electron Microscopy/Neuromuscular Special Studies
Department of Pathology
UC San Francisco Medical Center