At 09:11 PM 5/24/01 -0400, Shirley Powell wrote:
>At the risk of telling you how many years ago I started in this field, I
>remember that the section, after deparaffinization step, from a 95%
alcohol was
>placed for 5 minutes in 1% Celloidin in equal parts of alcohol and ether,
>eeegads.  

I remember doing this, too.  I used to love the smell of the ether and now
I'm paying for it in numerous "senior moments" from having lost a few brain
cells.  In AnnPreece's "A Manual for Histologic Technicians", 1972 3rd ed.,
the formula reads:

11% Thick celloidin ............ 5 mL
equal parts absolute ETOH and ether .... 95 mL
Thick celloidin is made by... (direcetly quoted from the book) 
 "dissolving 1 oz of parlodion (the celloidin)[notice she didn't convert to
grams??] in 125 mL absolute ETOH and 125 mL ether in a glass preserving
jar, complete with rubber ring or some other airtight container. Roll the
jar several times a day and reverse the position from time to time until
solution is complete.  This usually takes from  3 to 7 days.  Store in the
dark, away from the heat."

With such explosive mixes as this it sort of makes you wonder how there
ever came to be old histologists, eh?  especially since there was no ban on
smoking in public buildings (and there was always someone standing outside
the door smoking)... *gg*  

Lots of luck.  
Connie M   (Personally, I would try poly D-Lysine coated slides or coated
slides, or egg albumin or anything but this).  


>It then was placed in 70% alcohol for 10 minutes to harden.  The
>stain was performed and the celloidin removed in the dehydration step in
equal
>parts of alcohol and ether before clearing and coverslipping.  I found
this in
>Culling's 3rd Edition of Handbook of Histopathological and Histochemical
>Techniques, page 142 under Celloidinization.  It worked for me way back then.
>
>Shirley Powell
>
>
>"Greenfield, Barbara" wrote:
>
>> A question for the gurus of Histology.
>>
>> Many years ago (and I emphasize many) the lab I trained in used a technique
>> for post treating paraffin sections to keep them on the slide through some
>> of the silver staining techniques.  It involved dipping the mounted,
>> deparaffinized slides in a mixture containing celloidin.  Does this ring a
>> bell out there, and if so do you remember the concoction and procedure
>> details?
>>
>> Any pearls of wisdom would be appreciated.
>>
>> Barbara Greenfield
>> Laboratory Operations Manager
>> Erie Scientific, Co.
>> 20 Post Road
>> Portsmouth N.H. 03801
>
>
>
Connie McManus
Veterinary Diagnostics Lab
Utah State University
Logan, UT
USA