Animal tissue is very lean, and you probably are over dehydrating or drying 
out the tissue during processing.  Our mouse tissues are on a much shorter 
processing schedule than we ever used for human tissues (which tend to be a 
bit more fatty).  Do not add heat to processing schedule (solvents), and 
cut back on times in all solvents.

The smaller the tissue i.e. lymph nodes and slices of brain is on a much 
shorter schedule here.

You paraffin temperatures should be at 60C or less.

At 08:57 PM 2/9/2007, you wrote:
>I need to get some input on cutting animal tissue. I have always worked in  a
>clinical setting and have recently moved into a research lab. I find that the
>  tissue is very brittle and needs to be iced for an extremely amount of 
> time.
>Can  any of you animal cutting histo techs please give me some advice on what
>type of  paraffin you are using and what processing schedule you are using. I
>have  recently changed to Richard Allen type 9 paraffin and it seems to have
>helped  some. I would appreciate any advice you can give me.
>
>Thanks,
>Pam
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>Histonet@lists.utsouthwestern.edu
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Gayle Callis
MT,HT,HTL(ASCP)
Research Histopathology Supervisor
Veterinary Molecular Biology
Montana State University - Bozeman
PO Box 173610
Bozeman MT 59717-3610
406 994-6367
406 994-4303 (FAX)



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