On Thu, 22 Jul 1999 nelso019@mc.duke.edu wrote:

> Is there anyone out there who has a tried and true method for 
> processing vitreous gel. We have specimens from pig, and would like 
> some ideas. Also, we are looking for stains for hyaluronic acid.

  You will probably get lots of advice from people with lots
  of experience of processing and cutting eyes.

  You can stain hyaluronic acid with alcian blue at pH 2.5. It is
  not stained by the same dye at pH 1.0. Prior treatment with
  hyaluronidase prevents the staining. There are probably
  antibodies available too, if you want to stain it immunohistochemically.
  There is quite a lot that could be said on this subject, and it
  would be wise to read the carbohydrate histochemistry chapter in
  a textbook before using up all your valuable sections with just
  one procedure.

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