I'm not sure what you mean by "epoxy-like resins" but, to clarify, Epon
(trade name) is an epoxy resin while MMA (and GMA) is an acrylic resin. They
have very different properties in terms of cross-linking, porosity,
strength, hardness, etc. These differences account for the reason that
people use methacrylates for light microscopy and epoxy resins for electron
microscopy. There are acrylics suitable for EM as well, however.

Tim Morken
Atlanta

-----Original Message-----
From: Karen Pawlowski [mailto:kpawlow@swbell.net]
Sent: Tuesday, September 17, 2002 10:28 AM
To: Melanie Black
Cc: oswaldo; histonet@pathology.swmed.edu
Subject: Re: Immuno on JB 4 Resin


Hi All,

I just wanted to mention that JB-4 resin is a glycol methacrylate and
not a methyl methacrylate. Some of the epon-like resins are methyl
methacrylate and might work better for you.  

Karen Pawlowski

Melanie Black wrote:
> 
> Oswaldo
> 
> You will find it in the Journal of Cellular Pathology, 1996,page
> 31-37. Authors NM Hnad, D Blythe, P Jackson. Title Antigen unmasking
> using microwave heating on formalin fixed tissue embedded in methyl
> methacrylate.
> 
> Another is the text book "Theory and practice of Histological
> Techniques By Bancroft and Gamble. There is a whole chapter written
> by Neil Hand on resin.
> 
> Hope this is helpful
> Melanie.
> 
> >Hi Melanie, thanks for the info. I would appreciate if you can
> >direct me to the reference describing the method and the resin used.
> >
> >Oswaldo
> >
> >
> >
> >Melanie Black wrote:
> >>Hi Oswaldo
> >>
> >>I have done great immuno on MMA resin, a method by Neil Hand in the
> >>UK. The method is well known and written up. But I need to cut
> >>metal stents now, so need a harder resin.
> >>
> >>If you need to find that one, let me know.
> >>
> >>Melanie.
> 
> --