I soak the slides in acetone for 2 - 3 mins, lift off the coverslip then let
the sections soak in fresh acetone for 5 - 10 mins to remove any residual
film.  Then proceed as normal.  

Penny Marr
Immunohistochemist
SEALS - St George Hospital
Gray St
Kogarah  NSW  2217
Australia

> -----Original Message-----
> From:	Dana Settembre [SMTP:settembr@UMDNJ.EDU]
> Sent:	Tuesday, 14 March 2000 0:11
> To:	ANN MARUSKA
> Cc:	histonet@pathology.swmed.edu
> Subject:	Re: IHC question
> 
> On Fri, 10 Mar 2000, ANN MARUSKA wrote:
> 
> > Dear Histonetters,
> > For those of you who do IHC stains and get slides that have been
> previously stained e.g. H&E, how do you get the coverslip film off the
> slides?  I know there is a quick method by placing the slides in acetone,
> but does this affect the antigenicity of those slides? 
> > Right now I soak them in Xylene, but it takes days to get the film
> unglued.  Glass coverslips come off rather quickly in xylene, it's just
> the film coverslip that takes forever.
> > Thanks for whatever info you can share.
> > Ann Maruska
> > Fairview-University Med Ctr
> > Mpls.  MN  55454
> > amarusk1@fairview.org 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> Hello Ann,
> I sometimes run IHC on H&E slides and have had trouble with "film"
> coverslip.  But soaking them in the "original" reagent that came before
> coverslipping is the key.  This is lab we use xylene just before
> coverslipping and in the lab I used to work at, used  Histoclear just
> before coverslipping.  Sometimes I don't know which reagent was used by
> another lab and you have to fiddle with several reagents.  You also must
> go back to try to move the coverslip a bit quite often.  Hope this helps
> 
> Dana Settembre
> Immunohistochemistry Lab
> Pathology Department
> University Hospital
> Newark,  New Jersey
> USA
> 
**********************************************************************
South Eastern Sydney Area Health Service

This email and any files transmitted with it are confidential and intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom they are addressed.

This footnote also confirms that this email message has been virus-scanned and no computer viruses were detected.
**********************************************************************