I do not cryosection whole mouse but have learned some options.

Leica 3050 research cryostat or Leica's very large, chest freezer cryostat
(not sure of the model, but it takes up an enormous amount of floor space
and costs approximately $190,000 equipped with special knives).  The 3050
is used with
d profile tungsten carbide tips mounted in steel backs -  microtome blades.
DDK sells these, and they are excellent.  

I am not sure what thickness, but Robin Taylor indicated 25 um picked up on
tape.  

Instrumedics has a macro Cryojane unit, very pricey, but useful for tape
transfer with bone or a specimen this large.  I viewed a poster using this
technology for sectioning whole mouse embedded in paraffin, and know it can
be used for frozen sections.  I guess in terms of pricey, any larger
cryostat would also fit this description not to mention tungsten carbide
knives plus their reconditioning costs, one knife would not be very
efficient. 

As for how to cryosection a whole mouse, I envy the person who successfully
does this, they must have great patience and skill. We looked whole mouse
frozen serial sections some time ago.  It was later learned that high
resolution CCD cameras and specially labelled cells to produce
bioluminescence was far cheaper to perform T and B cell trafficking in a
live mouse, with possibility of using the mouse again for further testing.
Heavy sigh of relief on my part.

Obviously the right tools are very important.  

 At 10:20 AM 6/26/02 -0700, you wrote:
>     Hi Gayle, how do you cryosection (what thickness, what type of
>...tome?). 
>Thanks in advance,
>Abizar   > -----Original Message-----
   
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 (voice mail)
406 994-4303 (FAX)

email: UVSGC@montana.edu