Hallo everybody

I have a question about storage of frozen tissue.
We have no experience with that and we are forced to it now because the mice
which we use for our experiments are sick and it takes at least a year
before we can get new ones. So we have to be very economical with the tissue
we have left. We have the fixed sections now in autoclaved PBS and So-azide
at 4 C.

People suggested we can store the left sections at - 80 C after mounting
them on slides. I have read about it in the archives of the Histonet and
most people advice to put silicagel in the slide boxes to prevent the
sections become too humid. Is that for the ice crystals?
But now my problem: other people of our University told me to put wet tissue
in the slideboxes, to prevent the sections are drying out? (Those white
spots you see when you left your frozen meat too long in the fridge).

So, I am in a dilemma now, I have two complete opposite advices, what should
I do??

Frouwke Kuijpers

F.J.Kuijpers-Kwant
Dept. Cellular Animal Physiology
University of Nijmegen
Toernooiveld 1
6525 ED Nijmegen
frouwke@sci.kun.nl