How long are you vacuuming the tissue in last paraffin?

Karen Bowden
kbowden@ucsd.edu
University of CA, San Diego
Department of Orthopedics
La Jolla, CA

"April E. Monchik" wrote:

> I am a technician in a research institution core facility.  My
> question pertains to paraffin sectioning.
> When I cut rat heart tissue it looks like the paraffin has not
> infiltrated.  There are many holes in the tissue.  This happens even
> when I use a knew knife.
>    I use a Tissue Tek to embed the tissues.  The tissue go into the
> alcohol for several changes of thirty minutes each.  The histoclear
> steps are thirty minutes each too.  The paraffin changes are 30 mins,
> 1 hour, and 30 mins.
> Does anyone have any suggestions for embedding rat heart  and spleen
> tissue?  I'm interested in a protocol that really allows for
> infiltration into the tissues.   Thanks for your help