[Histonet] Precipitate in Processor
Hello Everyone, Has anyone ever seen a (salt?) precipitate in their alcohols following formalin? While changing the processor this morning, I noticed a precipitate in the 80% alcohol and 95% alcohol (NOT in the 70% alcohol). It is white and grainy. The alcohols were otherwise unaffected. We are using a 10% NBF containing: Formaldehyde Water Sodium Phosphate, monobasic Sodium Phosphate, dibasic Methanol And our alcohols are all reagent grade. Any help would be very much appreciated! Thank you in advance! Adrienne Aperghis Kavanagh US PATH 30 W. Century Road Suite 255 Paramus NJ 07652 ___ Histonet mailing list Histonet@lists.utsouthwestern.edu http://lists.utsouthwestern.edu/mailman/listinfo/histonet
Re: [Histonet] Precipitate in Processor
Phosphate buffered formalin followed by concentrated alcohol will produce these phosphate salts. To prevent this, formalin should be followed by alcohol of 70% or less. Also, when you change your processing solutions, you can do a water flush (we do first 4 solutions - 2 formalin 2 alcohol) to dissolve any salts that may be built up in the lines. Brandi Higgins HT(ASCP), BS On Mon, Aug 9, 2010 at 12:00 PM, Adrienne Aperghis Kavanagh aaperg...@uspath.com wrote: Hello Everyone, Has anyone ever seen a (salt?) precipitate in their alcohols following formalin? While changing the processor this morning, I noticed a precipitate in the 80% alcohol and 95% alcohol (NOT in the 70% alcohol). It is white and grainy. The alcohols were otherwise unaffected. We are using a 10% NBF containing: Formaldehyde Water Sodium Phosphate, monobasic Sodium Phosphate, dibasic Methanol And our alcohols are all reagent grade. Any help would be very much appreciated! Thank you in advance! Adrienne Aperghis Kavanagh US PATH 30 W. Century Road Suite 255 Paramus NJ 07652 ___ 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
RE: [Histonet] Precipitate in Processor
That is a phosphate precipitate most likely from your 10%NBF. Try going into a 70% ETOH first followed by higher concentrations. To see for yourself pour 10%NBF into graded alcohols- Precipitate is easy to see with 100% ETOH Jon Henry St. Onge Dako North America Quality Control Supervisor -Original Message- From: histonet-boun...@lists.utsouthwestern.edu [mailto:histonet-boun...@lists.utsouthwestern.edu] On Behalf Of Adrienne Aperghis Kavanagh Sent: Monday, August 09, 2010 9:00 AM To: histonet@lists.utsouthwestern.edu Subject: [Histonet] Precipitate in Processor Hello Everyone, Has anyone ever seen a (salt?) precipitate in their alcohols following formalin? While changing the processor this morning, I noticed a precipitate in the 80% alcohol and 95% alcohol (NOT in the 70% alcohol). It is white and grainy. The alcohols were otherwise unaffected. We are using a 10% NBF containing: Formaldehyde Water Sodium Phosphate, monobasic Sodium Phosphate, dibasic Methanol And our alcohols are all reagent grade. Any help would be very much appreciated! Thank you in advance! Adrienne Aperghis Kavanagh US PATH 30 W. Century Road Suite 255 Paramus NJ 07652 ___ 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
Re: [Histonet] Precipitate in Processor
My guess is that either your 70% wasn't made up properly and was a higher concentration or it's been so long since you've changed the solution that the water is fully saturated with the formalin salts. If it becomes a regular problem, you might consider reducing your first alcohol's concentration to 60% or even 50%. Good luck! Drew On Mon, Aug 9, 2010 at 12:00, Adrienne Aperghis Kavanagh aaperg...@uspath.com wrote: Hello Everyone, Has anyone ever seen a (salt?) precipitate in their alcohols following formalin? While changing the processor this morning, I noticed a precipitate in the 80% alcohol and 95% alcohol (NOT in the 70% alcohol). It is white and grainy. The alcohols were otherwise unaffected. We are using a 10% NBF containing: Formaldehyde Water Sodium Phosphate, monobasic Sodium Phosphate, dibasic Methanol And our alcohols are all reagent grade. Any help would be very much appreciated! Thank you in advance! Adrienne Aperghis Kavanagh US PATH 30 W. Century Road Suite 255 Paramus NJ 07652 ___ 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
