Gelatin alone is not an adhesive because it dissolves in water. Chrome alum-gelatin is an excellent adhesive for sections and costs almost nothing to make. Subbed slides are one coated with chrome gelatin, dried and stored. The following web link shows a 1999 publication giving the rationale and methods for a variety of section adhesives. http://publish.uwo.ca/~jkiernan/adhesivs.htm John Kiernan Anatomy,UWO London, Canada = = = On 02/11/11, Douglas M Burns <dmbur...@gmail.com> wrote:
> > Hello, > > I am new to working with brain, and I am having a bad problem with > both thin and thick rat brain sections sliding off of subbed slides. > > We tried commercial treated slides first, but then moved on to > subbing them. The subbing was done with gelatin according to a printed > protocol, and I can see the film on the dried slide. When kept horizontal > they seem okay, but as soon as they are put into a slide holder for washing > or anything, they begin to slide off or even move around. After a short > while, many/most of mysteriously vanished (into the wash solution). > > Our slices are sliced by cryostat from a rat brain that has been > fixed with 4% paraformaldehyde and 30% sucrose. The slice comes right off > the cryostat, and then I m ove it onto a warm slide. (Perhaps they are not > warm enough?? I have seen others blow on them to warm them.) Slides > destined for Cresyl violet staining were dried for 3 days at room > temperature before being moved. > > It is the Cresyl violet protocol that causes the most trouble, but I > am seeing some problems with any type of large volume wash. At this point, > I don't have enough experience with this specific tissue and our protocols > to be able to tell for sure what is happening. Thus, I am entirely open to > advice - any advice that might help with the problem. > > Thank you ------------- Doug Burns, Kansas City > _______________________________________________ > Histonet mailing list > Histonet@lists.utsouthwestern.edu > http://lists.utsouthwestern.edu/mailman/listinfo/histonet > > _______________________________________________ Histonet mailing list Histonet@lists.utsouthwestern.edu http://lists.utsouthwestern.edu/mailman/listinfo/histonet