couple more ideas......  you want to work with sharp needles, they will get
dull over time. If possible make sure that the needle travels all the way
through the donor "tissue". This will decrease the likelihood of the tissue
core remaining in the block due to it's attachment to surrounding tissue.
If your dealing with very fibrous tissue, rotating the entire stylus from
left to right when the needle is still in the donor block definitely helps.
I have also found that occasionally there is wax build up in the donor
needle and that this interferes with removing donor cores.  We use the
plunger as a ram to keep the   bore clean (kind of like cleaning the bore of
a cannon or gun with a ram rod in the olden days).  Hope this helps
Luis

-----Original Message-----
From: histonet-bounces@lists.utsouthwestern.edu
[mailto:histonet-bounces@lists.utsouthwestern.edu]On Behalf Of Helen
Fedor
Sent: Tuesday, September 28, 2004 4:27 PM
To: histonet@lists.utsouthwestern.edu;
Jacqueline.Miller@UTSouthwestern.edu
Subject: Re: [Histonet] tissue microarray problem


Hi,
Move the handle back and forth a couple of times and then gently Tamp
on top of the stylus. these two steps have always take care of any
resistant core removal.
Helen

Helen L. Fedor B.S.
Johns Hopkins University
Pathology Department
600 N Wolfe St
Marburg Room 406
Baltimore MD 21287
email: hfedor@jhmi.edu
Phone: 410 614-1660
Pager: 410 283-3419

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>>> Jacqueline Miller  09/28/04
03:57PM >>>
Hi everyone,

I'm making several practice tissue microarrays, and I'm having a lot
of
problem with not being able to retrieve the donor core.  In other
words,
after I punch the donor block, the core does not stay in the needle as
the needle is withdrawn.  Instead, the core remains in the block and
the
only way to get it out is to pry it out, which ruins the surrounding
tissue.  I appreciate any tips that anyone can offer as to how to
retrieve the core when this happens, or better yet, how to keep this
from happening in the first place.

Thanks,
Jackie

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