Microscopy and staining reagents

Supplier: Merck

Water-free mounting media, such as Neo-Mount®, should be used for permanent mounting and long-term storage of samples. Slides processed in pathologyl laboratories need to be stored up to 10 years, whereby the staining results need to be stable and fading-out is not acceptable. Neo-Mount®, anhydrous mounting medium for microscopy is an extremely colour-stable mounting medium for microscopy, which is produced with solvents based on mixtures of aliphatic hydrocarbons. It contains an aromatic-free substitute for xylene, thus, Neo-Mount® needs to be combined with Neo-Clear® exclusively. Xylene must be avoided in the mounting step, as it will cause the slides to become cloudy and streaked. In addition, by placing the dehydrated slides on filter paper for approx. 1 minute prior to mounting, any excess Neo-Clear® should be circumvented, as air bubbles might arise under the cover slip. The same pre-condition should also be met when mounting specimens using cover slip machines; in this area, Neo-Clear® can be most efficiently eliminated by incubating the slides for 1 minute in an empty slide rack.

Supplier: Merck

Entellan® new is a new mounting medium for cover slippers and is specially suited for commercial automated mounting instruments that operate with cover slippers. Its viscosity ranges between 250 and 600 mPas, 1,00869 has a small viscosity range. This narrow viscosity range improves and accelerates the application, as neither the dropping rate nor the volume need to be reset after the first run with a new bottle of Entellan® new.

Supplier: Merck

Aquatex is used for e.g. LEUCOGNOST stained specimens. For preservation purposes and subsequent optimal microscopy, the stained sections are normally mounted using a suitable mounting agent and covered with a cover glass.

Supplier: SIGMA ALDRICH MICROSCOPY

For use with Osteo-bed bone embedding kit. Solvent for removal of plastic from sections prior to rehydration and staining. Most histochemical and immunohistochemistry staining protocols require the removal of methyl methacrylate (MMA) and rehydration of mounted sections for improved stain penetration and greater contrast.

Supplier: SIGMA ALDRICH MICROSCOPY

CC/mount is an aqueous based permanent mounting medium with a very high refractive index, which when applied to the stained tissue sections can store the tissue specimens permanently without the fading of the chromogens. Because of the superior refractive index of CC/mount, tissues mounted in this medium look like specimens mounted with organic based mounting media. No coverslipping is required with CC/mount. However, if coverslipping is required, dried CC/mount can be post mounted by using an organic based mounting medium. CC/mount permits the long-term storage of antigens localised using organic insoluble chromogen substrates, including AEC, DAB, Fast Red, BCIP/NBT, BCIP/INT and fluorescent dyes like FITC and phycobiliproteins. The high pH of CC/mount ensures increased stability of fluorescence intensity.

Supplier: SIGMA ALDRICH MICROSCOPY

The Epoxy Embedding Medium Kit is a very widely used embedding medium for electron microscopy. The embedding formulation originally published by Luft (1961) is excellent for both plant and animal tissues. Due to the low viscosity of the resin, it penetrates the tissue specimen faster than Araldite and other polymers. It hardens easily and uniformly at low temperatures with the addition of dodecenylsuccinic anhydride (DDSA), methyl nadic anhydride (MNA), and the accelerator 2,4,6-tris(dimethylaminomethyl)phenol (DMP-30). Slight shrinkage may occur during curing. This kit is useful for embedding a variety of tissues as a wide range of hardness can be obtained with this resin to suit a specific tissue type by using two different anhydride curing agents (DDSA and MNA).

Supplier: VWR Chemicals

Safemount Q Path® is a mounting medium, supplied in an PET bottle, which is compatible with Safesolv. It glues the coverglass to the slide and fixes the probe in position after staining.

Supplier: VWR Chemicals

Fixing solution with 0,02% formaldehyde and 0,01% citric acid in aqueous solution.

Supplier: SIGMA ALDRICH MICROSCOPY

ImmunoHistoMount™ is a permanent aqueous mounting medium designed for tissue sections and cell smears with peroxidase and alkaline phosphatase chromogens that cannot be dehydrated with organic solvents.

Supplier: SIGMA ALDRICH MICROSCOPY

PolyFreeze is a water-soluble support matrix and a form of embedding medium for frozen sectioning. PolyFreeze sections flawlessly at routine frozen specimen thickness of 5-6 μ and leaves no slide residue. It provides for -20 ºC cryostat sectioning in rapid set embedment. This medium freezes quickly supporting the tissue for sectioning at 3 mm and up with no cracking of the matrix at temperatures from -8 °C to -25 °C.

Supplier: Merck

Neo-Clear® is a non hazardous alternative to xylene. It is virtually odourless, compatible with most high purity solvents and is characterised by lower evaporation rates than xylene, making it a lower health risk.

Supplier: SIGMA ALDRICH MICROSCOPY

HistoChoice® is a patented, complex mixture of agents that allow tissues to retain their structure, antigenic sites and nucleic acid sites. This formulation in non-citrus, contains no mercury, formaldehyde or glutaraldehyde.

Supplier: SIGMA ALDRICH MICROSCOPY

Immersion oil has been used in epifluorescent microscopy and cell identification.

Supplier: SIGMA ALDRICH MICROSCOPY

Spurr resin is a hydrophobic resin. It is less viscous than epon mixtures and is easier to dispense. The low viscosity of the resin contributes to its penetration in tissue, mineral and dense structures. A low viscosity of 60 cps also allows easy penetration into a variety of difficult materials.

Supplier: Merck

DPX new is a synthetic non aqueous mounting medium for microscopy. In its formulation, the teratogenic plasticiizer dibutyl phthalate (DBP) has been avoided, which renders the composition safer for the environment and more user friendly than the conventionally used mounting agents such as DPX.

Supplier: SIGMA ALDRICH MICROSCOPY

Bouin's solution is an excellent fixative for preserving soft and delicate structures. It is prepared with saturated picric acid, formaldehyde and acetic acid.