When I use AEC as chromogen after a few weeks air starts to collect under cover slides. Is it a common problem or is it because of the brand I use for water based mounting medium. I used to put lead blocks on each slides but it was not a long term solution. Any ideas?
Maybe the problem is linked to the use of water based mounting medium, independently from its brand. When using such a mounting medium, some researchers used to seal the space between the slide and the coverslip with melted (heated) solid paraffin, separating the mounting medium from the surrounding air.
To Jose Silva, I have never heart about this procedure, how do you apply melted paraffin... does it not effect the vision???
The melted paraffin is applied only along the border of the coverslip, covering a thin peripheric rim of it and the adjacent microscopic slide area, so the upper part of the coverslip is free from it. So, the microscopic observation should be undisturbed. Alhough, I don't have personal experience with the method, since I use hydrophobic mounting media. A drawback is that the microscopic preparation is somewhat fragile and should be conserved in a tightly closed box.
Paraffin can be replaced by an impermeable varnish, applied to the border of the coverslip by means of a painting brush. This operation is called "cementing" or "varnishing" in English and "luter" in French.
Jose's suggestions are excellent. I agree that the air bubbles are caused by evaporation of the aqueous mounting medium. I use fingernail polish to seal the coverslip edges. If you ask the ladies around you, I'm sure you can get all the free samples you need from their leftovers. Also, you can use different colours to code different groups.
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