Dear Histonetters:

Experienced bone plastic histologists, please help!  My boss wants to switch
from paraffin to plastic for bone and cartilage.  The histologist who did
plastic had left us 5 years ago, and we haven't done any plastic work at
all.  And we only have two block of tissues from an animal with
Legg-Calf-Pelve like disease, and they were not fixed.  Only dehydrated
gradually in 40% EtOH at 4 degree C till 100%, and are still in the
refrigerator.

I have sent out our old tunsgten carbide knife for reconditioning.
Please advise on what chemicals I should use.  The tissues are from femoral
heads of 50 day old swine.  They are quite big.  My paraffin sections would
normally occupy most of the microscopic glass slide.  It have cartilage,
bone marrow, and some connective tissues on it.  Protocols of plastic
embedding, tricks, should do and shouldn't do, etc... in polymerizing,
cutting to avoid wrinkles, and materials to coat the slides, are greatly
appreciated.  And deplasticizing techniques for IHC???

I can't damage these tissues, because they are very hard to get.  Please
help!

And thank you a thousand times!  '

Su