Phil,

This is not normal.  It can sometimes indicate something is loose on the microtome.  I find that incorrect knife angle will produce thick/thin sectioning.  Try changing the knife angle at small increments and see if that helps.

Teri Johnson
Stowers Institute for Medical Research
Kansas City, MO

-----Original Message-----
From:	Phil Bergin [mailto:philip.bergin@microbio.gu.se]
Sent:	Fri 10/25/2002 3:48 AM
To:	Histonet@pathology.swmed.edu
Cc:	
Subject:	Alternate thick-thin cryostat sections

Hi,

 

We have a Leica CM1800 cryostat which is great and serviced regularly
with no problems.  All of our biopsies are embedded in OCT and we
generally section at about 8 microns in thickness.  We often get
sections which come out with every other section being thin, followed by
one which is apparently the correct thickness, followed by another thin
section and so on.  This doesn’t happen on every biopsy, but on enough
for it to be a regular occurrence.  Is this normal?  Or is it something
to do with the way the specimens are being prepared?  According to our
service rep it is something that just happens and should be ignored.

 

Thanks for any advice,

 

Phil

 

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Philip Bergin

Göteborg University

Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology

Box 435, SE-405 30 Göteborg, Sweden

Phone: +46-31-3424727

Fax: +46-31-826976