Re: softening tendon

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From:"J. A. Kiernan" <jkiernan@julian.uwo.ca>
To:Histonet <Histonet@pathology.swmed.edu>
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On Wed, 24 May 2000, Barry Rittman wrote:

> what you need is "Mollifex" sold by BDH

  You shouldn't use secret mixtures, but Mollifex
  isn't (or isn't quite) a secret formulation. BDH
  made it following a publication by J. R. Baker
  (1941) A fluid for softening tissues embedded in
  paraffin wax. Quart. J. Microsc. Sci. 61:75.
  Bakers experiments led him to the composition:
      Glycerol           10
      60% ethyl alcohol: 90
         (parts by volume).
  A more recent paper is by Maria Wynnchuk (1992)
  in J. Histotechnol. 15(4): 321-323. She used
  a mixture called Horne's modification of Baker's
  solution:
     95% ethanol       9520 ml
     Glycerol           320 ml
     Acetone             80 ml
     Liquid phenol       80 ml
  (I guess that the "liquid phenol" is an 80%
   solution in water, not solid phenol that has 
   been melted by heating.) 10 litres of softening
   solution seems a lot to make up! I wonder
   how long it lasts for.

  Wynnchuk states that this mixture is better
  than Baker's original and that Mollifex, which
  contains a "phenol derivative" is just as good. 
  Anything here for Messrs Sue, Grabbit and Runne?

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




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