Good morning everybody!!
I am trying to attach iliac arteries embedded in MMA (methyl methacrylate + dibutyl phthalate + perkadox 16) to gelatin coated slides to allow us to stain them with the Movat's Pentachrome. Unfortunately, I have a real problem getting them to attach - shortly after they are placed into 2-MEA for plastic removal, the section detaches from the slide. I have mounted hundreds of sections to slides before with great success, but have never tried iliac arteries before. When mounting them using the conventional method (a drop of 50% ETOH, roll them onto the slide using a plastic coverslip, clamping the stack and placing it into a 45 - 50 degree Celcius oven for 24 to 48 hours), the sections attach beautifully and do not fall off during deplasticization. The problem with the iliac sections is that they are completely consumed with wrinkles around the entire circular area of the artery, rendering them unuseable. I have tried dry mounting (without using 50% ETOH or dH2O), I have tried floating the section onto a slide from a warm ETOH or dH2O solution (in water bath), I have tried using a slide warmer, I have tried a heat gun at low and high temperature settings, etc., etc.. The sections look great using the dry mounting methods (i.e. they don't wrinkle), but they detach from the slide very quickly following submersion in 2-MEA. It seems to me that the wrinkles appear, following the introduction of the ETOH or dH2O. If anyone would have any suggestions or comments, it would be greatly appreciated. Thanks again for all of your help. Have a great day!! Jim _______________________________________________ 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