Placing the shiny-side of the section on the water surface you assure that the sections corresponds to the block, of course you cannot turn-around the section. Also it will allow water tension to expand the section better and assures a better adhesion to the slide surface. If the section is in a ribbon you will have to decide which in the ribbon to select and you should not turn around the section. Orientation should not be an issue unless you are always going to section the block in the same way if recuts are needed. René J.
--- On Tue, 2/28/12, Lucie Guernsey <lguern...@ucsd.edu> wrote: From: Lucie Guernsey <lguern...@ucsd.edu> Subject: [Histonet] Shiny side of a paraffin section To: histonet@lists.utsouthwestern.edu Date: Tuesday, February 28, 2012, 6:56 PM As all of us who cut paraffin know, the underside of each section as it comes off the blade is shiny. I've always accepted it as a fact that the shiny side always goes down on the water bath, but I've begun to wonder why. Is there a specific reason why we're all taught to put the shiny side down? What would the difference be between a 'properly' collected section and a rebelliously collected shiny-side up section? Does it even matter? Thanks! Lucie Lucie Guernsey UC San Diego lguern...@ucsd.edu _______________________________________________ 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