Lorraine, going from NBF to 70 is very common.  What you are doing is perhaps overtreating the samples in alcohol.  Of all specimens spleen, pancreas are really susceptible to dehydrations negative effects.  If you are using chloroform, my fitst question is why?  You would want to consider Chlorofrm as a dehydrant as well as a clearant, but get rid of that stuff.  Just go fromt NBF inot to 50 or 70, do the washes if you need and cut down on the time or heat.  The samples that have been done should just be soaked.  You will note in Freidas book she states that 70 is the highest alcohol you can go into from NBF(unwashed), anything higher and you risk the buffer salts not dissolving.  I am lazy, I do not wash after formalin since I use it on the processor.  I go into about a 60% alcohol, and move on.

_______________________________________________
Histonet mailing list
Histonet@lists.utsouthwestern.edu
http://lists.utsouthwestern.edu/mailman/listinfo/histonet