Re: sectioning of frozen tissues

From:"J. A. Kiernan"

Sucrose is a cryoprotectant. It makes the ice
crystals smaller than they otherwise woulod be:
with luck too small to see by light microscopy.

Usually you cryoprotect fixed specimens. I've not
heard of people soaking fresh tissue in sucrose
before freezing. It wouldn't penetrate cell 
membranes, and autolysis would be continuing 
during the soaking time.
-- 
-------------------------
John A. Kiernan
Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology
The University of Western Ontario
London,   Canada   N6A 5C1
   kiernan@uwo.ca
   http://publish.uwo.ca/~jkiernan/
____________________________
Dale Osborne wrote:
> 
> Thanks for the helpful tips!
> Some recommend for best morphology to put the tissue in 20-30% sucrose
> before embedding in OCT.  Have you ever used sucrose?  Why would that work
> to improve morphology?
> 
> Thanks again,
> Dale Osborne
> Washington University School of Medicine
> Anesthesiology Dept.
> St. Louis, MO
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