Thank you Gayle - I am going to order new Zinc Chloride and see where it goes from there. I have utilized the commercial vendors in the past and am just trying to save on purchasing costs if I have a client that has variable size studies - I would like to have it more readily available without having to go through university ordering system which as you know can create a variety of delays when you are trying to take care of researchers. I always make sure to inform them that a "slab" is not acceptable for this type of fixation. The publications which you have supported are always on my top ten reading list when working with rodent samples!! Thank you for the wealth of information you provided. Amy
-----Original Message----- From: histonet-boun...@lists.utsouthwestern.edu [mailto:histonet-boun...@lists.utsouthwestern.edu] On Behalf Of gayle callis Sent: Monday, September 10, 2012 1:03 PM To: histonet@lists.utsouthwestern.edu Subject: [Histonet] RE: zinc fixative Amy, You wrote: A wonderful colleague recommended to aid in my response that I add the components I am using for preparation to assist in obtaining a more specific response, about shelf life, so here it is: 0.1 M Tris/HCl Buffer pH 7.4 - to which is added: Calcium Acetate - 0.5 gm Zinc Acetate - 5.0 gm Zinc Chloride - 5.0 gm The resulting solution was pH 5.45 According to my protocol my pH should be between 6.5 & 7.0 which is working. I am just starting to work on developing this protocol and my Zinc Chloride looked pretty pathetic in the bottle and I will be ordering fresh. I think this may have affected the pH - uncertain however at this point. ********************************** Invitrogen/BD Biosciences sells this fixative aka IHC Zinc Fixative (formalin free) and are only vendors in the USA as far as I know although it is sold in Europe under another name. I did not find a shelf life in either MSDS or Technical Data sheet, but you might want to contact them about this. When we tried this, we made it fresh. You may want to look at cost of buying the ready made compared to buying new chemicals or taking the time to make it up - whatever is cost effective. If you make it up, I suggest using only fresh chemicals if any of yours have been sitting around on the shelf as we ran into the same problem with zinc chloride going bad. The commercial IHC Zinc Fixative is a 10X solution (storage is RT) and diluted with distilled water just before use - very handy. If you are interested, I have many publications on file about this fixative including the original Beckstead (for human CD markers) and Nitta (for murine CD markers) articles and would be happy to send these to you privately. At least the TRIS buffer can be made up ahead of time, maybe even as a 10X solution and dilute when needed to add dry chemicals just before use. One thing is that the pH is never adjusted after adding the chemicals to the pH 7.4 TRIS buffer. This was mentioned in the original publications. Some things to think about when using this fixative. Make sure your tissues are not overly large/thick by reducing the sample size to achieve total fixation since the time of fixation is limited. BD Bioscience says up to 48 hours. I think one could perfuse nicely with this fixative too or at least inject it into lumens, fill lungs, hearts, etc. If you have incomplete fixation with ZnTRIS buffer (Beckstead's fixative), then alcohol during processing will complete the fixation which is something you do not want to happen. Nitta et al had a processing schedule in their publication but we found we had to use shorter processing schedule for murine tissues which became too dry and friable leading to poor microtomy with overly long soaking to get a section. Also the first NBF station on the processor should be replaced with this fixative. When working with formalin sensitive CD markers which is the purpose of this fixative, I wouldn't want a sniff of formalin from NBF carry over into ANY of the solvents. Others may have more suggestions on this. I am not sure what you are using zinc fixative for, but presume it is for CD markers. Good luck, Gayle Callis HTL/HT/MT(ASCP) _______________________________________________ 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