Hi everyone. I would have to cut serial sections of biopsies in the cryostat microtome to perform some immunoenzymatic methods on them. I wish I could cut some sort of "ribbon" of sections like with paraffin sections, but I can't. I tried to use the anti-roll plate but it didn't work. About 1 time out of 10 I can create a sufficiently long tape (at least 5 serial biopsies), otherwise the sections come off continuously with each other. I use the Leica CM1950 cryostat with OCT Leica FSC 22 Clear, Feather S35 blades. Thanks to those who will help me.
Matthew Ibbs Thanks for the reply. Do you think the thickness of the section can influence the formation of the ribbon? The enzymatic method I use involves a section thickness of 15 microns, but it seems too much to be able to create a ribbon. Can be useful to use the anti-roll plate?
I think it makes sense to use the anti-roll plate, but you have to take care that the postion of the roll plate and the kinfe edge ist optimal. To find this out you need several trials to optimize it. The speed of sections is importenat too. If you cut to fast the sections will curl, if you cut to slowly the sections will crush.
Thank you for the useful advice. I'll do some trials. I have a final question to ask: do you think the temperature of the cryostat chamber can influence the formation of the ribbon? Usually for the immunoenzymatic method that I set up I set the chamber temperature at -20 °C, while I turn off the cooling of the piece holder. By doing this, it seems to me that the sections are more "sticky" to each other and adhere better. What do you think about that?
You can try different temerature combinations of chamber and block temperature.
But take care that you do not produce so called cry-artefacts because the temperature is too low. The optimal sectioning temperature is tissue dependend.
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