I think this is largely personal preference, but manufacturers have marketed specific blades as being designed for certain purposes. I like low profile for paraffin sectioning of biopsies and well processed specimens, but that is mostly because I learned to section with low profile in histology school initially doing high volume with many different tissues, and I just learned to adjust my technique accordingly using that type of blade. I do prefer high profile in the cryostat however, but probably also because of my experiences with cryosectioning different tissues using high profile. I am not sure if there is much published science on this ( I looked once when researching paraffin composition and crystallization against blade resistance, and couldn't find much). I personally feel that for very hard or dense tissues there may be some advantage in stability and durability for high profile, since they are thicker ( more clamping surface) and perhaps a "tougher" less refined edge, that might be able to stay sharper longer with the greater resistance. But I have used both low & high with human bone ( decalcified or not) with roughly equal success. I am not sure if the difference would be more substantial and noticeable with animal tissues.
Joelle Weaver MAOM, HTL (ASCP) QIHC > From: wa...@livemail.uthscsa.edu > To: histonet@lists.utsouthwestern.edu > Date: Fri, 7 Mar 2014 21:22:00 +0000 > Subject: [Histonet] Low vs. High Profile Blades > > Hey does anyone know the difference between a High Profile Blade vs. a Low > Profile Blade when using for sectioning of Paraffin embedded tissues > specimens? Which one would ya'll prefer for decalcified bone? > > > Trevor Jordan Wait > University of Texas Health Science Center, San Antonio > Class of 2017 MD Candidate > Abilene Christian University Class of 2013 Graduate > B.S. Biochemistry > _______________________________________________ > 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
