[Histonet] tissue cassettes

[patpxs]

Hi Carl,The bon-bon effect.  This can happen if the wax used for processing is different from the wax used for infiltration or when the tissue gets cold before embedding.Either way, because the tissue is cold - the embedding wax doesn't blend with the tissue wax, creating the hard outer wax shell.  The simplest way to avoid the bon-bon effect is to make sure the tissue is as warm as the wax it's being embedded in.  Letting the cassettes go cold isn't the issue here, it's not letting the tissue warm up before embedding that is.  I call it "freezing" the tissue/cassette, since that's what the wax is doing, just to mess with people's heads.  That helps remind people that the wax gets cold quickly.Some folks may disagree with me about that.If the embedding wax is a different from the infiltration wax it's kind of the same thing.  The waxes need to co-mingle a little while so they can blend together before freezing the block.Just a few ideas...PaulaSent from Samsung tablet
-------- Original message --------From: Carl Hobbs via Histonet <histonet at lists.utsouthwestern.edu> Date: 2/9/24  11:12 AM  (GMT-08:00) To: histonet <histonet at lists.utsouthwestern.edu> Subject: Re: [Histonet] tissue cassettes I'm interested but don't understand the variation and it's + effectI take my cassettes out of the processor and immediately place into the molten wax bath of the embedder ( if I'm embedding immediately; if not I let the cassettes/tissues therein go cold until a later embedding)When embedding immediately, after 30 mins, I remove tissue from cassette into a heated metal mold filled with molten waxAll done quickly, to keep all wax moltenIf my people take too long, the wax around the tissue sets so when the tissue is placed into the molten wax, in mold, they sometimes get that effect of set wax-interface artefact....the section immediately pulls apart from the surrounding wax, on the waterbathThis can cause the section to foldDo enlighten meThanksCarlNever too old to learn!Carl Hobbs FIBMSHistology and Imaging ManagerWolfson SPaRCGuys Campus, London BridgeKings College LondonLondonSE1 1UL020 7848 6810_______________________________________________Histonet mailing listHistonet at lists.utsouthwestern.eduhttp://lists.utsouthwestern.edu/mailman/listinfo/histonet