I may suggest for you to read the attached file it contains all possible ways for tissue adhesion and prevent falling

good luck

What is your drying protocol of the slides? Do you carefully get rid of any water under the section before drying? vertical or horizontal drying?

We use superfrost plus slides and have no problems. We load the slides after a short drying (few minutes) in the 60°C oven onto the stainer with integrated HIER.

Hello, you are using that type of antigen retrieval?

In which step of the technique cuts are falling?

Sometimes the problem is the type of antigen retrieval or the pH of the buffer solution.

I experienced the same problem with paraffin blocks several years ago - they usually peeled off at the antigen retrieval step (sodium citrate in the microwave).  It turned out that I didn't dry the slides long enough (~30min).  I dried them overnight inside a chemical hood and they turned out fine ever since.  

We had better luck with charged glass slides, try those instead of regular slides. Good luck

Gudrun Lang, I dry the slides @ 370C overnight. Slides are kept horizontally. I can try with superfrost slides.

@Marcio de Barros Bandarra, 

That type of retrieval means?

The tissues starts comes off gradually during whole process, starting with retrieval and following washing steps. I am using a Dako Envison kit. I has retrieval buffer with pH 9.  

@ Mohamed A. A. Mahdy 

You mean...

You keep the slides after taking section of tissue on hot plate (@ what temperature).

Then prior to starting IHC, you keep it at 60C oven for paraffin melting

I recommand vertically drying in a tray. Trapped water can rinse down. Sometimes you may see a kind of "bag" formed by the section with water on the buttom. This water still is under your section, when you dry horizontally at low temp, and inhibits good adherence. I think if you want overnight drying, it's better to do it at RT and then put the slides for half an hour into the 60°C oven. this helps to melt the paraffin. Times beyond one hour may influence the outcome of the staining.

We use slides coat either in gelatin, but most often slides coated in Silane (aminopropyltriethoxysilane in acetone). We coat the slides ourselves, but pre-coated slides can be purchased. Once the paraffin sectioning is done, the slides dry vertically on a slide warmer at 42C overnight.

All are great answers, so  here is kind of the summation of what has worked for me:

1. Fixation & processing are always key to begin with.  I know that tumors sometimes have necrotic areas so infiltration with vacuum if you can.

2.  Really love super charged plus slides (various manufactures) little background will stick to the slides.

http://www.fishersci.com/ecomm/servlet/fsproductdetail_10652_759972__-1_0

3.  Dry in one of those slide boards: see for example http://www.amazon.com/Light-Labs-Slide-Drying-Rack/dp/B00792VZEM

4.  Dry in a 37 oC oven overnight or at room temp until air DRY.  VERY important!  And you can be fooled so that a little edge can be wet.  Gudrun's comment on the "bag" formation is spot on, and sometimes you cannot tell just looking at the slide until it hits xylene then POP. It will start to bubble up.  Then all hope is lost.

5.  60o C oven at least 2 hours or longer.  Overnight is great too.  I have done large brain sections of 10 micron which are on 3 x 5 inch slides for immuno even over a weekend.  Caveat: this is for my antibodies and has been tested.  It might be too long in the oven for yours.  Please check before keeping them in overnight.  Cleveland clinic Neuropathology department used to keep them in at 45o C for 48 hours and they were always great. So depends on what works for you.  That is terribly long to wait for me all the time. (type A person). 

Many great suggestion you have Nidul.

I used to let my sections rest in water bath a bit longer to spread out completely, so all the little shrinkages become flat.  the use of superfrost slides is a game changer. Let them rest on hot plate for a while, at least 60o C. As Gudrun suggested the vertical drying is great and is a process commonly used in diagnostic labs. 

One additional matter to look after, if you are heat retrieving your antigen with pressure or microwave, let you retrieval reagent cool down slowly in room temperature, instead of a shock drop of temperature and  do not take your slides out of retrieval solution unless you are ready to start the first wash and the rest of your immunohistochemistry procedure. Good luck.

I may suggest for you to read the attached file it contain all possible ways for tissue adhesion and solve problems of falling

good luck

I may suggest for you to read the attached file it contains all possible ways for tissue adhesion and prevent falling

good luck

You can try using a pap pen, like para-tissuer or fro-tissuer, I used to use the ones from here: http://www.tedpella.com/histo_html/pap-pens.htm and they're quite good in holding tissues with some necrotic areas (used it in paraffin sections from leishmaniasis tegumentary lesions, which do have necrotic areas).

Balkees Taha Garib

Your provided document has lots of useful information. Thank you.

You could use silanized glasses to add paraffin sections. I have experinced antigen retrival in microwave, steamer and pressure cooker, and all of them with good results.

For antigen retrival of paraffin tissue sections in microwave and immunohistochemistry we use glass slides covered by poly-l-lysine (Sigma etc.), which produces a sticky surface. 

Beverley J. Henning 

I am using Dako Flex Envision kit. It has high sensitivity, so microwave method for retrieval is not appropriate.

It becomes hard to the tissue. Waterbath is much more prefered.

I've done .1M EDTA antigen retrieval at 60 C for 1 hour with good results.  I use this method when working with cartilage tissue in a Sequenza staining system (Thermo Fisher). 

Balkees: that attachment is a great explanation of how to do coated slides! Will save for my students. Thanks!

Try microwave method at 95C for 20 min (under boiling) in different buffers to compare (TRIS/EDTA or citrate). Usually we are using different conditions for different antigens and antibodies.

We had good results with polylysine coated slides (you can do it alone).

Thank you all for your suggestions. My problem has been resolved.