W made a cross sections of hair and we need to stain them with hematoxilin and eosin, but the problem is that the dry samples are flowing down from the slides...Any idea how to fix them? Thank you in advance.
How thick are your sections? The above solutions will certainly work. If you want more immediate placement, we use a high viscosity formula of cyanoacrylate glue (aka superglue).
Dear Sabeeh, Timothy and Nicole,
Thank you for your feedback. Our sections have 5 micrometers.We have used the cryostat for cutting the hair samples and afterwards we have dried them in 37C overnight.My additional question is - If we use the above mentioned glues or balsams is it still possible to stain our sections with hematoxilin/eosin?Apologize for stupid questions but my main field is genetics which is much easier than microscope techniques :-)
5 micrometers is rather thin for either of the media suggested. If 5 micrometers is necessary (it hardly ever is, except in extremely specialized applications), then I would be tempted to stain the whole hair before cutting. Otherwise, I would be tempted to prepare much thicker sections, which are easier to handle and that will stain much more deeply. We typically cut 100 micrometer sections, and collect all-in-focus or restricted plane of focus planes. Many possibilities depending upon the available microscopy and imaging software.
We cut plain hair.We need to evaluate melanin granules distribution and measure the color intensity.
I would try to make an unstained slide. Just cover the section with mounting medium and coverglas. The granules have brown colour anyhow, or not?
This may not be of any use but textile researchers use stainless-steel or brass plates the same size as a microscope slide. These have a series of fine holes drilled in them (less than i mm). You simply pull a bunch of wool (or hair in this case) through the hole until it is tightly held and then slice off the parts hanging out of the hole with a razor blade.
This obviously gives thick sections - used for ID from overall shape and presence of a central void or medulla. I think you colleagues above may be more helpful but you might consider a textile science lab if there is one in your country.
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