Back in the 60s we used Phosphate buffered formalin according to the recipe
in Drury and Wallington's version of "Carleton's Histological Technique",
which was a new book then. We still use the same formula.

                Regards,   Laurie.


At 10:27 AM 12/9/1998 +0000, you wrote:
>Hello histonetters,
>
>I am currently engaged on a seriously retrospective project involving
>performing PCR on  paraffin embedded archival tissues some of which
>are more than 30 years old. The variablity of the DNA viability and
>content is astounding. A factor that I can only ascribe to the
>various fixatives used way back then.
>
>Could some of the older histotechnologists give me some insight into
>what was common practice in say, the late 50's early 60's?
>(I will understand if some of you just say that you are reporting
>hearsay - after all - we don't all want to reveal our age?)
>
>When did buffered formalin come into vogue? As a mere whippersnapper
>of some 17 years experience - I can recall the unpleasantness of
>trying to make up buffered formalin in 25l quantities - an innovation
>and a great pain to a raw recruit.!
>
>I will appreciate any insight into what really happened
>
>many thanks
>Louise Taylor
>Johannesburg
>South Sfrica
>
>


Mr.Laurie Reilly.                      Telephone  07 4781 4468
Senior Technical Officer,              Facsimile  07 4781 5558
Histopathology,                        laurie.reilly@jcu.edu.au
Physiology and Pharmacology,
Australian Institute of Tropical Veterinary and Animal Science,
James Cook University,
Townsville,  4811
Australia.