Rachel
my experience with spleen and other tissues with a lot of loose cells is that
because there is a scarcity of fibrous components to hold cells together well,
that there is a tendency for cracking of the tissues.
The kidney is somewhat of a a mystery unless you are using pieces that are
thicker than desirable for processing.
Barry

Rachel Munshower wrote:

> Hello all!
>    I wonder if anybody knows why my kidney and spleen (but especially
> kidney) slides sometimes look crackily and not good for presentations, pubs
> etc?  I've noticed this on H&E's and PASH's -- the problem is sometimes
> throughout the sections, and sometimes localized at the edges of cysts
> within the organs or at the edge or capsule of the kidney.  We perfusion
> fix with 4% paraformaldehyde and let it sit at least overnight in fix, then
> trim tissue and put it into cassettes, rinse in saline and hold iin 70%
> ethanol.  I've heard that allowing the cassettes to sit overnight is a good
> thing, and then I've heard that that could be why my tissue looks bad.
> FInally, we process on an 8 hour schedule, embed and cut.  Any ideas would
> be happily considered and greatly appreciated.  Thanks!
> Rachel
>
> ________________________________________
> Rachel Munshower
> IU School of Medicine
> Dept. of Anatomy and Cell Biology
> 635 Barnhill Dr. MedSci 5065
> Indy, IN  46202
> 317-278-7746