We have been coverslipping tissue slides with Canada Balsam but it dries so slowly. Is it possible to speed up drying? Will heating help and is it safe? Currently we do not have modern alternatives of Canada balsam. Help is needed!
From what I've read, this adhesive requires "very high temperatures and long curing times" so it looks like heating won't hurt it and will probably help with the curing. http://web.archive.org/web/20070220153603/http://www.emsdiasum.com/summers/optical/cements/manual/manual.html
Is there any special reason why you use Canada Balsam? How about trying other mounting mediums - we use Eukitt in our lab.
DPX is a similar mountant and dries to the touch in a fume hood in about 15 minutes.
Canadian balsam flashpoint is 39 °C, so you can not heat it.
Here you have product information from MerckMillipore:
http://www.merckmillipore.com/is-bin/INTERSHOP.enfinity/WFS/Merck-GB-Site/en_US/-/GBP/ViewPDF-Print.pdf?RenderPageType=ProductDetail&CatalogCategoryID=6Jyb.s1LbawAAAEWZeEfVhTl&ProductUUID=L0Gb.s1OPVkAAAEaTFt7Ciqm&PortalCatalogUUID=t02b.s1LX0MAAAEWc9UfVhTl.
We have tried to heat slides up to 35 °C but it did not work.
If you heat Canadian balsam in order to harden it, you're shooting yourself in the foot!
Canadian balsam has a low melting point... around 40ºC.
Eukitt is the fastest drying mounting medium. For faster drying you can leave half an hour at the oven at 60ºC, but be sure it that temperature doesn't affect the stain quality.
DPX is equally good, but not that fast. Usually i leave the slide in the oven at 37ºC overnight just to be sure the cover slip won't move if I need to use immersion oil.
Hope this helps
I think you can use Eukitt instead of Canada Balsam, it dries very fast and will give you very clear section.
Thanks every one!
We are trying to use minimum quantity of Canada balsam needed for cover slipping. Even if volumes that seem small initially, after a while it tends to cover whole area of section. It is a nice view when color of stained section dramatically changes once wave of Canada balsam can be gradually seen covering the section under microscope.
Avoiding excessive quantities for coverslipping helps speed up drying.
How long do you want the slide to last? A canada balsam slide will last at least 100 years (I've seen archive slides that old). Most of the modern quick drying plastics will dry in 15 minutes and shrink and dry out, needing replacing, in 5 years (personal experience). If you want to use canada balsam mounted slides straight away - then put four little drops of acetone based nail polish on the corners of the coverslip to stop the coverslip moving, then you can use the slide as soon as the nail polish is dry - just don't wipe the slide vigorously (the nail polish is not very strong)!
I add small lead weights onto the top of the coverslip to compress the media. Small fishing sinkers work well (~10gms). Then let them dry in a warm oven being careful they are flat. Check with a bubble level. You can place them in a tray in the oven. If the edges dry leaving a space then carefully add more balsam on the edge and capillary action will fill up the space.
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