Re: [Histonet] Safranin O staining

2013-02-19 Thread Victor Wong
Hi Liz,
 
Get it.  Thank you for the detailed procedures.
 
Best Regards,
Victor

From: Elizabeth Chlipala l...@premierlab.com
To: Victor Wong vhlw...@yahoo.com; Tony Henwood (SCHN) 
tony.henw...@health.nsw.gov.au; histonet@lists.utsouthwestern.edu 
histonet@lists.utsouthwestern.edu 
Sent: Wednesday, February 20, 2013 12:15 AM
Subject: RE: [Histonet] Safranin O staining


Victor
 
We process these samples on the tissue processor and not manually.  You can use 
a kimwipe but we prefer the nylon tissue bags (the small ones 30 x 50 mm), they 
are a bit more expensive but they work well for us.  We receive the pellets in 
a conical tube, we add a bit of eosin, about a ml, to the formalin in the tube 
and let it sit for about 10 minutes.  We then use disposable pipets to retrieve 
the pellet from the conical tube, we don't use forceps at this stage, we draw 
up the pellet into the conical tube, open the tissue bag and then squirt the 
solution and pellet into the bag.  Its helpful to have the pellet stained with 
eosin this way you can actually see it.  We fold the bag and place it into the 
cassette.  We embed in the pellets in the 15x15 mm base molds.  We capture 4 
levels per slide for a total of 8 sections, since the samples are so tiny we 
collect all the tissue onto unstained slides, this allows us to have sections 
through the
 pellet.  What we do is collect several ribbions of tissue with about 15-20 
sections per ribbon and then pick up 2 sections at a time.  I will attach a 
diagram from our technical manual to help out in another e-mail.  I'll see if I 
can get access to the paper.  I can't comment on how to get rid of the debris 
since we do not perform that process.
 
Liz
 
Elizabeth A. Chlipala, BS, HTL(ASCP)QIHC
Premier Laboratory, LLC
PO Box 18592
Boulder, CO 80308
(303) 682-3949 office
(303) 881-0763 cell
(303) 682-9060 fax
l...@premierlab.com
 
Ship to address:
 
Premier Laboratory, LLC
1567 Skyway Drive, Unit E
Longmont, CO 80504
From: Victor Wong [vhlw...@yahoo.com]
Sent: Monday, February 18, 2013 8:37 PM
To: Elizabeth Chlipala; Tony Henwood (SCHN); histonet@lists.utsouthwestern.edu
Subject: Re: [Histonet] Safranin O staining


Hi Liz,
 
Thank you for your response and your invaluable experience in processing such 
samples.  I'll try manual processing on next batch of samples.
 
I am new to handle these samples.  There would be a lot of cell debris during 
culture mixing with small pellet and this may be much bigger than the pellet.  
May I know how to get rid of it? 
 
Someone suggested to stain the pellet with eosin and place it in folded Kimwipe 
for processing.  Is routine automatic staining helpful as we don't have a oven 
to melt paraffin nearby?  We need to take a 30-minute walk to the lab for 
processing.
 
BTW, I don't have access right to the paper. Anyway, the staining pictures on 
the website are very nice. 
 
Once, thank you for your help.
 
Best Regards,
Victor

From: Elizabeth Chlipala l...@premierlab.com
To: Victor Wong vhlw...@yahoo.com; Tony Henwood (SCHN) 
tony.henw...@health.nsw.gov.au; histonet@lists.utsouthwestern.edu 
histonet@lists.utsouthwestern.edu 
Sent: Monday, February 18, 2013 11:37 PM
Subject: RE: [Histonet] Safranin O staining

We have processed and stained these types of samples before.  We do not embed 
the pellets in agarose prior to processing.  We dye them with eosin and place 
them in a tea bag and process on a very short cycle - 10 minutes per station, 
embed section and stain.  We have stained with safranin O, alcian blue, 
toluidine blue and IHC for collagen II.  The safranin O comes out just fine as 
well as the others. We just receive the samples so I do not know anything about 
the preparation, collection and fixation.  It possibly could be your construct, 
we have processed hundreds of these samples and the staining intensity and 
patterns do change.  I expect this is due to the type of preparation.  If you 
want to see pictures of the staining, you can go to this website:

http://bioreagents.lifemapsc.com/products/purestem-chondropkg-4d20-8

or this paper:

Sternberg H, Murai JT, Erickson IE, Funk WD, Das S, Wang Q, Snyder E, Chapman 
KB, Vangsness CT Jr, West MD. 2012 A human embryonic stem cell-derived clonal 
progenitor cell line with chondrogenic potential and markers of craniofacial 
mesenchyme. Regen Med. 7(4):481-501

Liz

Elizabeth A. Chlipala, BS, HTL(ASCP)QIHC
Premier Laboratory, LLC
PO Box 18592
Boulder, CO 80308
(303) 682-3949 office
(303) 881-0763 cell
(303) 682-9060 fax
l...@premierlab.com

Ship to address:

Premier Laboratory, LLC
1567 Skyway Drive, Unit E
Longmont, CO 80504

From: histonet-boun...@lists.utsouthwestern.edu 
[histonet-boun...@lists.utsouthwestern.edu] On Behalf Of Victor Wong 
[vhlw...@yahoo.com]
Sent: Monday, February 18, 2013 12:35 AM
To: Tony Henwood (SCHN); histonet@lists.utsouthwestern.edu
Subject: Re: [Histonet] Safranin O staining

Dear Tony,

Thank you for your prompt

Re: [Histonet] Safranin O staining

2013-02-18 Thread Victor Wong
Hi Ray,
 
Thank you for your suggestion and the paper.  There is a wonderful staining 
with safranin O compared to our staining that was very faint, nearly as 
unstained with safranin O (there was staining with fast green and hx).
 
I dealed with sample as pellet in Falcon tubes, after experiment by my 
colleaque.  As far as I know, we isolated mesenchymal stem cells from marrow 
and cultivated in chondrogenic medium for days.  We don't have a pellet 
positive control but including a section with cartilage is useful.
 
I really concerned that high temperature during melting the 2% agarose may be 
deletrious to the staining.  As suggested, I will extend the fixation time.
 
Best Regards,
Victor
 
 

From: koelli...@comcast.net koelli...@comcast.net
To: Victor Wong vhlw...@yahoo.com 
Cc: histonet@lists.utsouthwestern.edu 
Sent: Monday, February 18, 2013 10:42 PM
Subject: Re: [Histonet] Safranin O staining


Victor, I completely agree with Tony and Renee's methodology assessment but I 
would also ask you to look at your induced chondrogenesis model (I've never 
done this but have done many, many other cell culture models).  If you go to 
this paper http://biotech.korea.ac.kr/bk21/bbs/upload/bk21bbs_cur_165_0.pdf in 
Tissue Engineering they describe in detail exactly what you are trying to do, 
if I read your question correctly.  Their pictures of safrinin 0 staining of 
pelleted cells from culture could be described as light staining if you 
compare them to the red/orange color what we all know safranin o looks like on 
articular surfaces.  I think that is a POOR positive control for their 
experiments but that's just me.  In-vitro cultured cells prepared for histology 
will seldom  stain the same as in-vivo material prepared for histology.  And 
they had to hit cells pretty hard, 5ng TGF to see some staining.  Have no idea 
what your cell culture
 methodologies are but what I think you are doing is all in that paper and you 
can see the results in the Safranin o pictures.  There are ways to get better, 
more similar, positive staining controls then they used.
 
Ray Koelling
Research Scientist
University of Washington
Seattle


From: Victor Wong vhlw...@yahoo.com
To: histonet@lists.utsouthwestern.edu
Sent: Sunday, February 17, 2013 6:34:12 PM
Subject: [Histonet] Safranin O staining

Hi all,

I am working on induced chondrogenesis in cell culture.  After, induction, I 
put the clump of cells (pellets) in 2% agarose to make a cell block.  When the 
pellet did not sink to the bottom of agarose, I heated to melt the agarose 
again and centrifuged with higher speed. I fix the agar block in 10% formalin 
for an hour and then transfer to 70% alcohol and proceeded with normal paraffin 
procedure.  I stained the paraffin sections with Sigma Safranin O stain but got 
very faint or no staining.  Here is my protocol:

1. Weigert Iron Hx for 2 min
2. Acid alcohol,Scott Tap and wash
3. 0.02% fast green for 2 min
4. 0.1% acetic acid for 1 min
5. Sigma's Safranin O for 5-10 min
6. 95% alcohol then 3x 100% alcohol @3 min
7. xylene and mount

I also tried to stain the sections with alcian blue pH1.0 and the staining was 
not quite remarkable.  I'd like to ask if repeated heating on embedded pellet 
affects staining as I wanted to make sure the pellet was at the bottom of 
agarose.  Are there other factors affect the staining. Any comments are 
welcomed.

Thanks you in advance.

Victor
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Re: [Histonet] Safranin O staining

2013-02-18 Thread Victor Wong
Hi Rene,
 
Thanks for your great suggestion.
 
Yes, I'll extend the fixation time.  Do you think the embedding with melting 
agarose will be deletrious to the safranin staining?  I just use a heating 
water bath to melt the 2% agarose without temperature control.  I checked for 
complete melting and it was not boiled actually. Can I go through routine 
automatic tissue processing instead of manually?
 
For Weigert staining, we had a strong nuclear staining compared with faint or 
unstained red colour.
 
Any enlightenment is welcomed.
 
Best Regards,
Victor
 

From: Rene J Buesa rjbu...@yahoo.com
To: Victor Wong vhlw...@yahoo.com; histonet@lists.utsouthwestern.edu 
histonet@lists.utsouthwestern.edu 
Sent: Monday, February 18, 2013 8:42 PM
Subject: Re: [Histonet] Safranin O staining


Believe it or not, not because you are dealing with cells (small as they are) 
they require longer than 1 hour to be correctly fixed.
This is what I would do: fix the cells for 8 hours minimum → prepare the pellet 
in agarose → process to paraffin (FFPE) block → section as usual.
Now, check the distaining protocol, consult any histotechnique book because I 
think 2 min is Weigert is a very short time (remember the mordant) → try 
different staining times, or follow a known protocol (you can find that in 
either Peter Gray's or Lillie's books).
René J.

From: Victor Wong vhlw...@yahoo.com
To: histonet@lists.utsouthwestern.edu histonet@lists.utsouthwestern.edu 
Sent: Sunday, February 17, 2013 9:34 PM
Subject: [Histonet] Safranin O staining

Hi all,

I am working on induced chondrogenesis in cell culture.  After, induction, I 
put the clump of cells (pellets) in 2% agarose to make a cell block.  When the 
pellet did not sink to the bottom of agarose, I heated to melt the agarose 
again and centrifuged with higher speed. I fix the agar block in 10% formalin 
for an hour and then transfer to 70% alcohol and proceeded with normal paraffin 
procedure.  I stained the paraffin sections with Sigma Safranin O stain but got 
very faint or no staining.  Here is my protocol:

1. Weigert Iron Hx for 2 min
2. Acid alcohol,Scott Tap and wash
3. 0.02% fast green for 2 min
4. 0.1% acetic acid for 1 min
5. Sigma's Safranin O for 5-10 min
6. 95% alcohol then 3x 100% alcohol @3 min
7. xylene and mount

I also tried to stain the sections with alcian blue pH1.0 and the staining was 
not quite remarkable.  I'd like to ask if repeated heating on embedded pellet 
affects staining as I wanted to make sure the pellet was at the bottom of 
agarose.  Are there other factors affect the staining. Any comments are 
welcomed.

Thanks you in advance.

Victor
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Re: [Histonet] Safranin O staining

2013-02-18 Thread Victor Wong
Hi Tony,
 
I'll extend the fixation, also as suggested by Rene. And then proceed to manual 
process.  Is automatic tissue processing fine with these samples?   It is 
interesting to process with albumin. 
 
Both of the paper cannot be accessed in our lab and I'll try to find from other 
sources.
 
P.S. unforuntuately we don't have a Haematology department but may be we can 
try other cells.
 
Best Regards,
Victor
 

From: Tony Henwood (SCHN) tony.henw...@health.nsw.gov.au
To: 'Victor Wong' vhlw...@yahoo.com; histonet@lists.utsouthwestern.edu 
histonet@lists.utsouthwestern.edu 
Sent: Tuesday, February 19, 2013 6:44 AM
Subject: RE: [Histonet] Safranin O staining


Hi Victor,
 
I suppose the take home message from Russ’s paper (God rest his soul – we do 
miss him) is that heat will affect some stains so extrapolating to routine 
processing temperatures, one could suppose that the deleterious effect would be 
more pronounced. To protect the cells, I would extend the fixation time and 
look at fixing before preparing the agar pellet. Or use the thrombin method 
instead (ask your Haematology department for expired thromboplastin from their 
clotting tests, use expired plasma from blood bank, add a few drops of 1% 
calcium chloride and a clot should form in 20seconds or so. Add NBF, fix for 
longer than an hour (4hr to overnight is better. And process as usual. Since 
the clots tend to be only about 3mm in greatest dimension (depending on the 
volume of thromboplastin and plasma used, a short gentle program will suffice 
(5 changes of alcohol, 20min each: 2 changes of xylene 30min each, 3 changes of 
wax, 30 min each).
 
Alternatively you could mix the pellet with some egg albumin, add an equal 
volume of 10% formalin in alcohol, a nice clot will form, fix for a few hours 
and process from alcohol (Based on the paper, with modifications, by Yamamoto 
et al (1985) Am J Clin Pathol 83:409-414).
 
Interstitial glycosaminoglycans and other mucins are also water soluble so 
fixing in formal alcohol should retain more of these “mucins” than aqueous NBF 
fixation (Nathan,  van Deth (1983) Pathology 15:301-4)
 
Regards
Tony Henwood JP, MSc, BAppSc, GradDipSysAnalys, CT(ASC), FFSc(RCPA)
Laboratory Manager  Senior Scientist
Tel: 612 9845 3306
Fax: 612 9845 3318
thechildren'shospitalat westmead
Cnr Hawkesbury Road and Hainsworth Street, Westmead
Locked Bag 4001, Westmead NSW 2145, AUSTRALIA
 
From:Victor Wong [mailto:vhlw...@yahoo.com] 
Sent: Monday, 18 February 2013 6:36 PM
To: Tony Henwood (SCHN); histonet@lists.utsouthwestern.edu
Subject: Re: [Histonet] Safranin O staining
 
Dear Tony,
 
Thank you for your prompt reply and the paper.
 
I do fix the cell before processing in agarose and after embedding in agarose.
 
It is inevitable to process in wax at higher than 45C as it is set by the 
routine workers.
 
It is the first time I worked on cell block precessing.  Do you have protocol 
of processing chondrogenic pellet by tissue processor?  Any adjustment to my 
procesing and staining protocol? 
 
I tried to stain the pH1.0 alcian blue for 45 minutes and overnght but 
unremarkable staining (faint staining) was observed.  Do you think 
glycosaminoglycans secreted by chondrogenic pellet can be destroyed by heat?
 
Best Regards,
Victor


 
From:Tony Henwood (SCHN) tony.henw...@health.nsw.gov.au
To: 'Victor Wong' vhlw...@yahoo.com; histonet@lists.utsouthwestern.edu 
histonet@lists.utsouthwestern.edu 
Sent: Monday, February 18, 2013 11:45 AM
Subject: RE: [Histonet] Safranin O staining

Victor,

Heat can affect the way tissues and cells bind to dyes. I have attached an 
article that hints at some of these problems (Allison, R. T. and Bryant, D. 
(1998)'Effects of Processing at 45 C on Staining', Biotechnic and 
Histochemistry 73:3,128 -136).

I have also found that some antigens are adversely affected by heat. CEA 
immunohistochemistry was decreased in cytology cell blocks made with molten 
agar compared to cell blocks made with fibrin clot. In both cases cell blocks 
were fixed in NBF after being made. Formalin seemed to protect the antigens in 
fibrin clots from subsequent heat damage during processing, whereas with agar 
cell blocks, the heat damage was already done.

Regards 
Tony Henwood JP, MSc, BAppSc, GradDipSysAnalys, CT(ASC), FFSc(RCPA) 
Laboratory Manager  Senior Scientist 
Tel: 612 9845 3306 
Fax: 612 9845 3318 
the children's hospital at westmead
Cnr Hawkesbury Road and Hainsworth Street, Westmead
Locked Bag 4001, Westmead NSW 2145, AUSTRALIA 

-Original Message-
From: histonet-boun...@lists.utsouthwestern.edu 
[mailto:histonet-boun...@lists.utsouthwestern.edu] On Behalf Of Victor Wong
Sent: Monday, 18 February 2013 1:34 PM
To: histonet@lists.utsouthwestern.edu
Subject: [Histonet] Safranin O staining

Hi all,

I am working on induced chondrogenesis in cell culture.  After, induction, I 
put the clump of cells (pellets) in 2% agarose to make a cell block.  When the 
pellet did not sink to the bottom

Re: [Histonet] Safranin O staining

2013-02-18 Thread Victor Wong
Hi Liz,
 
Thank you for your response and your invaluable experience in processing such 
samples.  I'll try manual processing on next batch of samples.
 
I am new to handle these samples.  There would be a lot of cell debris during 
culture mixing with small pellet and this may be much bigger than the pellet.  
May I know how to get rid of it? 
 
Someone suggested to stain the pellet with eosin and place it in folded Kimwipe 
for processing.  Is routine automatic staining helpful as we don't have a oven 
to melt paraffin nearby?  We need to take a 30-minute walk to the lab for 
processing.
 
BTW, I don't have access right to the paper. Anyway, the staining pictures on 
the website are very nice. 
 
Once, thank you for your help.
 
Best Regards,
Victor

From: Elizabeth Chlipala l...@premierlab.com
To: Victor Wong vhlw...@yahoo.com; Tony Henwood (SCHN) 
tony.henw...@health.nsw.gov.au; histonet@lists.utsouthwestern.edu 
histonet@lists.utsouthwestern.edu 
Sent: Monday, February 18, 2013 11:37 PM
Subject: RE: [Histonet] Safranin O staining

We have processed and stained these types of samples before.  We do not embed 
the pellets in agarose prior to processing.  We dye them with eosin and place 
them in a tea bag and process on a very short cycle - 10 minutes per station, 
embed section and stain.  We have stained with safranin O, alcian blue, 
toluidine blue and IHC for collagen II.  The safranin O comes out just fine as 
well as the others. We just receive the samples so I do not know anything about 
the preparation, collection and fixation.  It possibly could be your construct, 
we have processed hundreds of these samples and the staining intensity and 
patterns do change.  I expect this is due to the type of preparation.  If you 
want to see pictures of the staining, you can go to this website:

http://bioreagents.lifemapsc.com/products/purestem-chondropkg-4d20-8

or this paper:

Sternberg H, Murai JT, Erickson IE, Funk WD, Das S, Wang Q, Snyder E, Chapman 
KB, Vangsness CT Jr, West MD. 2012 A human embryonic stem cell-derived clonal 
progenitor cell line with chondrogenic potential and markers of craniofacial 
mesenchyme. Regen Med. 7(4):481-501

Liz

Elizabeth A. Chlipala, BS, HTL(ASCP)QIHC
Premier Laboratory, LLC
PO Box 18592
Boulder, CO 80308
(303) 682-3949 office
(303) 881-0763 cell
(303) 682-9060 fax
l...@premierlab.com

Ship to address:

Premier Laboratory, LLC
1567 Skyway Drive, Unit E
Longmont, CO 80504

From: histonet-boun...@lists.utsouthwestern.edu 
[histonet-boun...@lists.utsouthwestern.edu] On Behalf Of Victor Wong 
[vhlw...@yahoo.com]
Sent: Monday, February 18, 2013 12:35 AM
To: Tony Henwood (SCHN); histonet@lists.utsouthwestern.edu
Subject: Re: [Histonet] Safranin O staining

Dear Tony,

Thank you for your prompt reply and the paper.

I do fix the cell before processing in agarose and after embedding in agarose.

It is inevitable to process in wax at higher than 45C as it is set by the 
routine workers.

It is the first time I worked on cell block precessing.  Do you have protocol 
of processing chondrogenic pellet by tissue processor?  Any adjustment to my 
procesing and staining protocol?

I tried to stain the pH1.0 alcian blue for 45 minutes and overnght but 
unremarkable staining (faint staining) was observed.  Do you think 
glycosaminoglycans secreted by chondrogenic pellet can be destroyed by heat?
Best Regards,
Victor


From: Tony Henwood (SCHN) tony.henw...@health.nsw.gov.au
To: 'Victor Wong' vhlw...@yahoo.com; histonet@lists.utsouthwestern.edu 
histonet@lists.utsouthwestern.edu
Sent: Monday, February 18, 2013 11:45 AM
Subject: RE: [Histonet] Safranin O staining

Victor,

Heat can affect the way tissues and cells bind to dyes. I have attached an 
article that hints at some of these problems (Allison, R. T. and Bryant, D. 
(1998)'Effects of Processing at 45 C on Staining', Biotechnic and 
Histochemistry 73:3,128 -136).

I have also found that some antigens are adversely affected by heat. CEA 
immunohistochemistry was decreased in cytology cell blocks made with molten 
agar compared to cell blocks made with fibrin clot. In both cases cell blocks 
were fixed in NBF after being made. Formalin seemed to protect the antigens in 
fibrin clots from subsequent heat damage during processing, whereas with agar 
cell blocks, the heat damage was already done.

Regards
Tony Henwood JP, MSc, BAppSc, GradDipSysAnalys, CT(ASC), FFSc(RCPA)
Laboratory Manager  Senior Scientist
Tel: 612 9845 3306
Fax: 612 9845 3318
the children's hospital at westmead
Cnr Hawkesbury Road and Hainsworth Street, Westmead
Locked Bag 4001, Westmead NSW 2145, AUSTRALIA

-Original Message-
From: histonet-boun...@lists.utsouthwestern.edu 
[mailto:histonet-boun...@lists.utsouthwestern.edu] On Behalf Of Victor Wong
Sent: Monday, 18 February 2013 1:34 PM
To: histonet@lists.utsouthwestern.edu
Subject: [Histonet] Safranin O staining

Hi all,

I am working on induced chondrogenesis

[Histonet] Safranin O staining

2013-02-17 Thread Victor Wong
Hi all,

I am working on induced chondrogenesis in cell culture.  After, induction, I 
put the clump of cells (pellets) in 2% agarose to make a cell block.  When the 
pellet did not sink to the bottom of agarose, I heated to melt the agarose 
again and centrifuged with higher speed. I fix the agar block in 10% formalin 
for an hour and then transfer to 70% alcohol and proceeded with normal paraffin 
procedure.  I stained the paraffin sections with Sigma Safranin O stain but got 
very faint or no staining.  Here is my protocol:

1. Weigert Iron Hx for 2 min
2. Acid alcohol,Scott Tap and wash
3. 0.02% fast green for 2 min
4. 0.1% acetic acid for 1 min
5. Sigma's Safranin O for 5-10 min
6. 95% alcohol then 3x 100% alcohol @3 min
7. xylene and mount

I also tried to stain the sections with alcian blue pH1.0 and the staining was 
not quite remarkable.  I'd like to ask if repeated heating on embedded pellet 
affects staining as I wanted to make sure the pellet was at the bottom of 
agarose.  Are there other factors affect the staining. Any comments are 
welcomed.

Thanks you in advance.

Victor
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Re: [Histonet] Safranin O staining

2013-02-17 Thread Victor Wong
Dear Tony,
 
Thanks for your prompt reply.
 
I fix the cells in 10% NBF for 1 hour, then changed to PBS and keep at 4C 
fridge.  To prepare cell block, I use a heating water bath and I usually need 
to set the heater to higher than 150C to liquidify the agarose (2% in PBS) 
without boiling.  The agar did not melt when heated at lower temperature.  I do 
think the agar is at less than hundred degree C but may be at 70C.  After then, 
I trimmed the block and fix again in formalin before putting in 70% alcohol.  
Any comments?
 
This is the first time I am working on cell block.  May I have your processing 
protocol?
 
Best Regards,
Victor
 

From: Tony Reilly tony_rei...@health.qld.gov.au
To: histonet@lists.utsouthwestern.edu histonet@lists.utsouthwestern.edu; 
Victor Wong vhlw...@yahoo.com 
Sent: Monday, February 18, 2013 1:50 PM
Subject: Re: [Histonet] Safranin O staining


Hi Victor

I have been using agar cell blocks for over 30 years.  It has been my 
experience that it is better to fix the cells in formalin prior to embedding in 
the agar to prevent damage to the cells from the heat of the agar.  Another 
important step is to gently heat the agar so that it is just above melting 
point to also minimise the heat affect.  If you are using microwaves to melt 
your agar do the following.
-calibrate your microwave so that the temperature achieved is minimal
-do not set and walk away, watch and stop heating as soon as melting is achieved
-aliquot agar into small batches as the microwaves affect the agar such that 
the melting point increases with each use elevating the temperature of the agar.

regards
Tony





Tony Reilly  B.App.Sc. , M.Sc.
Chief Scientist, Anatomical Pathology
Pathology Queensland-PA Laboratory 

Health Services Support Agency | Department of HealthLevel 1, Building 
15,Princess Alexandra Hospital
 
Ipswich Road,WOOLLOONGABBA  Qld4102
Ph: 07 3176 2412
Mob: 0402 139411
Fax: 07 3176 2930
Email: tony_rei...@health.qld.gov.au
Web:  www.health.qld.gov.au/qhcss/
 
 

 Victor Wong vhlw...@yahoo.com 2/18/2013 12:34 pm 
Hi all,

I am working on induced chondrogenesis in cell culture.  After, induction, I 
put the clump of cells (pellets) in 2% agarose to make a cell block.  When the 
pellet did not sink to the bottom of agarose, I heated to melt the agarose 
again and centrifuged with higher speed. I fix the agar block in 10% formalin 
for an hour and then transfer to 70% alcohol and proceeded with normal paraffin 
procedure.  I stained the paraffin sections with Sigma Safranin O stain but got 
very faint or no staining.  Here is my protocol:

1. Weigert Iron Hx for 2 min
2. Acid alcohol,Scott Tap and wash
3. 0.02% fast green for 2 min
4. 0.1% acetic acid for 1 min
5. Sigma's Safranin O for 5-10 min
6. 95% alcohol then 3x 100% alcohol @3 min
7. xylene and mount

I also tried to stain the sections with alcian blue pH1.0 and the staining was 
not quite remarkable.  I'd like to ask if repeated heating on embedded pellet 
affects staining as I wanted to make sure the pellet was at the bottom of 
agarose.  Are there other factors affect the staining. Any comments are 
welcomed.

Thanks you in advance.

Victor
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Re: [Histonet] Safranin O staining

2013-02-17 Thread Victor Wong
Dear Tony,
 
Thank you for your prompt reply and the paper.
 
I do fix the cell before processing in agarose and after embedding in agarose.
 
It is inevitable to process in wax at higher than 45C as it is set by the 
routine workers.
 
It is the first time I worked on cell block precessing.  Do you have protocol 
of processing chondrogenic pellet by tissue processor?  Any adjustment to my 
procesing and staining protocol? 
 
I tried to stain the pH1.0 alcian blue for 45 minutes and overnght but 
unremarkable staining (faint staining) was observed.  Do you think 
glycosaminoglycans secreted by chondrogenic pellet can be destroyed by heat? 
Best Regards,
Victor


From: Tony Henwood (SCHN) tony.henw...@health.nsw.gov.au
To: 'Victor Wong' vhlw...@yahoo.com; histonet@lists.utsouthwestern.edu 
histonet@lists.utsouthwestern.edu 
Sent: Monday, February 18, 2013 11:45 AM
Subject: RE: [Histonet] Safranin O staining

Victor,

Heat can affect the way tissues and cells bind to dyes. I have attached an 
article that hints at some of these problems (Allison, R. T. and Bryant, D. 
(1998)'Effects of Processing at 45 C on Staining', Biotechnic and 
Histochemistry 73:3,128 -136).

I have also found that some antigens are adversely affected by heat. CEA 
immunohistochemistry was decreased in cytology cell blocks made with molten 
agar compared to cell blocks made with fibrin clot. In both cases cell blocks 
were fixed in NBF after being made. Formalin seemed to protect the antigens in 
fibrin clots from subsequent heat damage during processing, whereas with agar 
cell blocks, the heat damage was already done.

Regards 
Tony Henwood JP, MSc, BAppSc, GradDipSysAnalys, CT(ASC), FFSc(RCPA) 
Laboratory Manager  Senior Scientist 
Tel: 612 9845 3306 
Fax: 612 9845 3318 
the children's hospital at westmead
Cnr Hawkesbury Road and Hainsworth Street, Westmead
Locked Bag 4001, Westmead NSW 2145, AUSTRALIA 

-Original Message-
From: histonet-boun...@lists.utsouthwestern.edu 
[mailto:histonet-boun...@lists.utsouthwestern.edu] On Behalf Of Victor Wong
Sent: Monday, 18 February 2013 1:34 PM
To: histonet@lists.utsouthwestern.edu
Subject: [Histonet] Safranin O staining

Hi all,

I am working on induced chondrogenesis in cell culture.  After, induction, I 
put the clump of cells (pellets) in 2% agarose to make a cell block.  When the 
pellet did not sink to the bottom of agarose, I heated to melt the agarose 
again and centrifuged with higher speed. I fix the agar block in 10% formalin 
for an hour and then transfer to 70% alcohol and proceeded with normal paraffin 
procedure.  I stained the paraffin sections with Sigma Safranin O stain but got 
very faint or no staining.  Here is my protocol:

1. Weigert Iron Hx for 2 min
2. Acid alcohol,Scott Tap and wash
3. 0.02% fast green for 2 min
4. 0.1% acetic acid for 1 min
5. Sigma's Safranin O for 5-10 min
6. 95% alcohol then 3x 100% alcohol @3 min 7. xylene and mount

I also tried to stain the sections with alcian blue pH1.0 and the staining was 
not quite remarkable.  I'd like to ask if repeated heating on embedded pellet 
affects staining as I wanted to make sure the pellet was at the bottom of 
agarose.  Are there other factors affect the staining. Any comments are 
welcomed.

Thanks you in advance.

Victor
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[Histonet] PECAM-1 (sc-1506R) staining

2010-07-28 Thread Victor Wong
Dear all,
 
Thank you for all the professional suggestion of the previous IHC staining and 
finally I got some positive results.
 
Then comes problem on the PECAM-1 IHC.  I am using the Santa Cruz sc-1506R (it 
is a anti-RAT antibody from RABBIT).  I stain decalcified rat spine paraffin 
sections, with following steps:
 
antigen retrieval (~95C MW, DAKO AR solution pH6 for 20 minutes);
DAKO's Dual Enzyme block for 10 minutes;
3% normal goat serum for 20 minutes;
1:50 primary antibody at 4C for overnight;
DAKO's Envision anti-rabbit kit for 30 minutes;
DAKO's DAB solution to develop
 
I used rat liver and kidney as positive controls.  I got background staining on 
hepatocytes but none staining on vessels.  On kidney section, nucleus and 
lining within tubules and basement membrane of glomerulus were also stained but 
not that bad as liver.  I cannot say it was totally non-specific as some 
nucleus were not stained.
 
I think PECAM-1 IHC needs more specific conditons.  Could any histoneters have 
any suggestion?
 
Many thanks in advance.
 
Victor



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[Histonet] ki-67 staining

2010-07-18 Thread Victor Wong
Dear all,
 
I am working on imumunohistichemistry of ki-67 antibody (DAKO MIB-5, a 
monoclonal mouse anti-rat) on EDTA-decalcifed rat spine and femur.  I used 
DAKO's reagents such as Dual enzyme block, antigen retrieval solution pH6.0, 
normal goat serum, anti-mouse Envision plus kit and the DAB kit.  I washed with 
TBS (prepared from Invitrogen's 1M Tris-HCl pH7.5 + NaCl to 50mM Tris.HCl pH 
7.4, 150mM NaCl without pH adjustment).  I used 10% NBF fixed rat liver as a 
control.  However, none in the liver was stained and there were non-specific 
staining in the samples.  Below is my protocol.
 
1. Dewax and rehydrate sections
2. a.   Prepare DAKO antigen retrieval solution by diluting 1:10 
with distilled water;
b.  preheating the solution by microwave (boil);
c.   heat antigen retrieval solution in a copin jar with microwave;
d.  put slides to the solution and leave for 20 minutes under low to medium 
microwave power.
e.   Cool for 20 minutes
3.  Wash with TBS
4.  Quench sections in Dual Endogenous Enzyme Block for 10 
minutes
5.  Rinse with TBS
6.  Blocking the slides with 5% goat serum for 20 mins
7.  Incubate with 1° antibody (1:25) in 5% goat serum for 1 
hours RT
8.  wash in TBS @1min x 3
9.  Incubate with EnVision HRP-conjugated anti-mouse antibody 
for 30 mins
10.  Wash in TBS @1min x 3
11.  Add DAB (20ul into 1ml DAB+substrate buffer, mix immediately) 
to develop
12.  Wash in water
13.  Counterstain in haemotoxylin
14.  Wash in running tap water
15.  Dehydrate, clear and mount
 
Could anyone help me in troubleshooting which steps went wrong or giving
suggestion on the staining protocol?  Any suggstion in the antigen retrieval
procedures are also welcomed.
 
Many thanks in advance.
 
Best Regards,
Victor



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[Histonet] Decalcification and processing of large bone

2010-02-24 Thread Victor Wong

Dear all,
 
I am going to decal and process PIG femur and lumbar vertebrates.  I only have 
experience on soft tissues.  Anyone can suggest any protocols in 
decalcification and processing?  Many thanks in advance.
 
Cheers,
Victor



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