Hey folks,
I have a batch of slides with histological cross sections which were originally embedded in paraffin. They were then sectioned and mounted between 2 and 3 years ago.
Now we want to do some Hematoxylin / Eosin staining with it and I was naturally wondering if that is still possible after this long time.
Or rather - will it still yield acceptable results?
Thank you so much!
No probs, you can use directly. However, just warm the slides in a slide warmer at 37 or 40 °C for 1 hr before use.
Dear Benjamin,
Don't worry at all, I'm sure you will get very good quality images. only their reactivity will decrease if you want to use them for Immunohistochemistry imaging but still, you have the chance for this kind of staining. you will be fine for H&E staining.
Good Luck,
Masoumeh
It is advisable to use fresh slides bcoz might be storage time affect the cytoplasmic and nucleus shape loss. But you should try the results, as staining of sections varies from tissue to tissue. We don't know which tissue you are going to study, best of luck for your results!
I don't think that would be a problem for morphological study . On the other hand, for the immunohistological staining, there might be some problem . Good luck !!
I have used slides from ~6 years ago for both H&E and IHC and both have worked beautifully. The sections were cut at 6um though, but were high quality sections.
Agreed; you should be able to get reasonable images on H&E. The immunogenicity for IHC or other ancillary testing is likely to be seriously compromised and hence, unreliable. But, H&E should be fine if fixation was adequate.
If fixation was made after adequate time and using very good reactives you may have very good results. Good luck
You may use these paraffin sections for H&E staining. But please check the sections under microscope for fungal growth if any, prior to staining especially if you have used egg albumen and glycerine mixture as adherent for sticking sections on the micro slides. Try, all the very best!
I don't have any problem when I stain slides that were cut long time ago.
Yes for sure as far as it was stored at the right temperature and conditions.
I would just mention that it is very likely that you would need to re-embed in new paraffin, after such long period. But this is routine for an histology technician.
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