Dear Hal,

There are three ways I know to fix faded slides. To remove the coverslip
1.Soak in xylene forever, 2. heat over a bunsen burner gently until the
medium bubbles and quickly slide the coverslip off, or 3. place the slide
on a block of dry ice for a couple of minutes and you should be able to pop
the coverslip right off.  The third is best.  You can then run the slides
down through xylene and alcohols and restain. Don't bother to decolorize.
I've even done IHC for S-100 on slides treated the second way (bunsen
burner!!).

Jeff Silverman
Southampton Hospital NY USA
peptolab@hamptons.com

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> From: Hawkins, Hal <hhawkins@SBI.UTMB.EDU>
> To: 'histonet' <histonet@pathology.swmed.edu>
> Subject: old slides
> Date: Tuesday, October 20, 1998 4:40 PM
>
>
>
> Another question for the experts.
>
> I'm in the process of reviewing a teaching slide set which includes
> some slides which are decades old.  Many of the slides show
> fading of the hematoxylin at the edges, while the eosin staining
> looks normal.  Is this an oxidative change?  Can it be cured?
>
> Thanks in advance for your experience and comments.
>
> Hal Hawkins
> UT Medical Branch, Galveston, TX