Re: frozen mast cells

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From:"J. A. Kiernan" <jkiernan@julian.uwo.ca>
To:Rebecca S Smith <bssvpisu@iastate.edu>
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On Fri, 4 Feb 2000, Rebecca S Smith wrote:

> I have been performing a study with one of our research pathologists on 
> Mast cells.  We have done paraffin sectioning and now he want to do 
> frozens.  I did the first batch with our routine fixative for frozens: 
> Acetone.  There was virtually no staining what-so-ever.  Can anyone 
> comments on what a good fixative for the preservation of mast cells in 
> frozen sections might be?

  Mast cell granules of some species are dissolved by aqueous
  fixatives. Alcoholic mixtures (e.g. Carnoy or an alcoholic
  Bouin) are OK for any species. The best reference for all this
  is quite old but very good: Hans Selye's book "The Mast Cells"
  Butterworths, 1963. Rat & mouse mast cells can be fixed with
  aqueous mixtures like neutral formalin. 

 John A. Kiernan,
 Department of Anatomy & Cell Biology,
 The University of Western Ontario,
 LONDON,  Canada  N6A 5C1





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