Hello Joe, first thanks so much for sharing your expertise here on Histonet.
I work in the main histo lab at Mass General Hosp. in Boston and I have interested the powers that be in your NaOH protocol. I initially used your NaOH idea to attach an "impossible" nail to slides by floating 4um section on 20% NaOH for 10-15min. (The transfers between regular water bath and NaOH bath (and back to rinse) were surprisingly easy because the concentrated NaOH prevents adhesion to even the stickiest adhesive slides.) Anyhow, I have some questions for you about your lab's implementation. I found your most complete post at http://lists.utsouthwestern.edu/pipermail/histonet/2008-October/040078.html But I am concerned about the safety of 20% NaOH in routine use. Would you mind posting or emailing me any SOPs you have that address the safety issues? Specifically both the histology lab and the "grossing" labs here use RDO decal solutions at every bench. So there is/will be concern about the proper handling of 20% NaOH around RDO... by overworked PAs and residents, etc. etc. Feel free to tell me your safety almost-horror stories so we can (try to) prevent them from occuring here. I've seen that some people use 10% NaOH instead. Have you experimented with this? Any reasons you stick with 20% beyond the usual "it ain't broke, so..."? Have you (or anyone on Histonet) ever tried to find the minimum effective concentration? Increasing the pre-soak time isn't an issue here since I've been assured that nail turnaround times are non-critical. Along these lines, do you or anyone have any histochemical references for the reactions that are taking place? With this info it might be possible to predict the minimum effective pH. It would also be nice to have references for the SOP. (I know about the coverslip "crushes" some derm clinicians do with fresh scrapings. Alternately, do you know of any histochemical references for this?) Thank you so much for sharing your time and info! And if I happen to answer any of my own questions I will be sure to post what I learn. Sincerely, -brice Massachusetts General Hospital Surgical Pathology, Histology The information in this e-mail is intended only for the person to whom it is addressed. If you believe this e-mail was sent to you in error and the e-mail contains patient information, please contact the Partners Compliance HelpLine at http://www.partners.org/complianceline . If the e-mail was sent to you in error but does not contain patient information, please contact the sender and properly dispose of the e-mail. _______________________________________________ Histonet mailing list Histonet@lists.utsouthwestern.edu http://lists.utsouthwestern.edu/mailman/listinfo/histonet