Gayle et al.,

My personal experience with alcohol flaming of dissection instruments was
rather negative.  Unlike inoculation loops,  these tools are made from
hardened, tempered ferrous alloys which are softened by exposure to elevated
temperatures.  Eventually they lose their cutting edges and can not be
effectively resharpened.  Have others experienced this?  They may get so
soft that they bend during ordinarily handling.  Hot beads came after my
time, so I can't comment.  I would tend towards steam or cold sterilization.

Mark Ray


----- Original Message -----
From: "Gayle Callis" 
To: "Geoff McAuliffe" ; 
Sent: Tuesday, July 30, 2002 1:18 PM
Subject: Re: Sterilization of instruments


> I'm not clear on this either UNLESS they are harvesting  some tissues or
> organs for sterile culture purposes and need sterile conditions??? OR some
> animals have infectious diseases, a precaution?
>
> This is commonly done here, for histo on some tissues, organ or lymph
node,
> etc harvesting for cells. They use alcohol flame technic, and also had
some
> "hot" experiences due to spillage of alcohol. There are microincinerators
> used in microbiology labs, devices where inoculation loops are inserted.
> How good this would be for larger dissecting scissors/instruments if would
> they fit, plus they need to be cleaned before heating or you bake on all
> the blood/tissue remnants.
>
>
>   At 01:22 PM 7/30/02 -0400, you wrote:
> >    Perhaps I am missing something here, but why sterilize instruments
> used on
> >dead animals? Just wipe off the blood/tissue with a mild soap solution.
> >
> >Geoff
> >
> >Kathleen Cormier wrote:
> >
> >> Hello all!
> >>
> >> What is the preferred method of sterilizing instruments during necropsy
of
> >> multiple animals? We may do upwards of 20 animals during a session.
What we
> >> do is in between animals or samples is to dip the instruments in 70%
ETOH
> >> then "flame" them, allow to cool off for 20 seconds them proceed with
> >> dissection. After one too many beaker fires we are being asked to
change
> >> our procedure. One suggestion is heated bead sterilization in between
> >> samples/ animals another is to order 30 additional sets of instruments
and
> >> autoclave the sets prior to use. Any suggestions?
> >>
> >> Thanks!!!
> >>
> >> Kathy Cormier
> >> Histology Supervisor
> >> Div Comparative Med
> >> MIT
> >
> >--
> >**********************************************
> >Geoff McAuliffe, Ph.D.
> >Neuroscience and Cell Biology
> >Robert Wood Johnson Medical School
> >675 Hoes Lane, Piscataway, NJ 08854
> >voice: (732)-235-4583; fax: -4029
> >mcauliff@umdnj.edu
> >**********************************************
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> Gayle Callis
> MT,HT,HTL(ASCP)
> Research Histopathology Supervisor
> Veterinary Molecular Biology - Marsh Lab
> Montana State University - Bozeman
> 19th and Lincoln St
> Bozeman MT 59717-3610
>
> 406 994-6367 (lab with voice mail)
> 406 994-4303 (FAX)
>
> email: gcallis@montana.edu
>
>