David

Is there a reason why you need to process the specimens whole.  I have
processed both rat ankles and rear paws, but separately, the ankle being
sectioned to demonstrate the tibia and tibial tarsal joints and
associated inflammation (arthritis model) and the paws to demonstrate
the digits.  E-mail me back with some more specifics and I can probably
help you out, but I need a bit more information.  On our web page there
are a few images of some rat ankles. And if you look at the white papers
section of the web page there is a poster that covers ankle preparation.
I have other information also that will send off the histonet.  If you
do need to process the rear ankle and paw together you might be able to
just use mega cassettes and the largest base molds, the specimens might
fit, if that's not big enough I would either use surgipaths system for
the larger cassettes if that's not a possibility the old steel L's
should work with a microtome chuck that will support those blocks.

Liz

Elizabeth A. Chlipala, BS, HTL(ASCP)QIHC
Manager
Premier Laboratory, LLC
P.O. Box 18592
Boulder, Colorado 80308
Office: (303) 735-5001
Fax: (303) 735-3540
liz@premierlab.com
www.premierlab.com
 
Ship to Address:
Premier Laboratory
University of Colorado
MCDB, Room A3B40
Boulder, Colorado 80309

-----Original Message-----
From: histonet-bounces@lists.utsouthwestern.edu
[mailto:histonet-bounces@lists.utsouthwestern.edu] On Behalf Of Kinsley,
David
Sent: Monday, October 03, 2005 2:18 PM
To: 'histonet@lists.utsouthwestern.edu'
Subject: [Histonet] Whole Rat Paw Processing

Hi Histonetters,

I'm going to be working on a project where I will need to collect,
process,
and cut whole rat paws from the ankle to the toes.  Does anyone have any
experience with these?  I'm in need of larger size processing cassettes
and
embedding molds, decalcification times/processing times, as well as
information on chuck adapters for the microtome.  Any advice/information
is
greatly appreciated.  

David Kinsley
Schering-Plough Research Institute
Kenilworth, NJ 07033
908-740-4669



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