Lorraine,

I tried that fixative a few years ago with mice and all thought that the
morphology was inferior to formalin. Our solution was to do perfusion with
NBF followed by a short post fix, 4-12 hours, then sucrose protect and
frozen sections.  Morphology was good and antigenicity was fine for what we
were doing. Cynthia Favara
Rocky Mountain Laboratories
903 S. 4th Street
Hamilton, MT 59840
406-363-9317
FAX 406-363-9286




-----Original Message-----
From: Lorraine Gibbs [mailto:lgibbs@u.washington.edu]
Sent: Thursday, November 29, 2001 2:37 PM
To: Histonet@pathology.swmed.edu
Subject: alternative fixation/processing schedules for sensitive
antigens


Histonetters-

Has anyone out there tried the Zinc Acetate/Zinc chloride fixation method
for fixation-sensitive antigens? This fixation method is followed by
paraffin processing. Also, has anyone tried the AmeX (acetone-methyl
benzoate-xylene) tissue processing method?

I am interested in alternative fixation/processing schedules for sensitive
antigens. Antigen retrieval methods are not an option and frozen sections,
while acceptable, do not always provide excellent morphology.

Thanks for the advice!


Lorraine Gibbs
Physiology &Biophysics
University of Washington
Seattle, WA