There was a wonderful NSH poster by Joanna Barton et al using Histogel for 
rat heart valve tissue sections.   Rat hearts (you could also do this on 
mouse hearts) were quickly removed, flushed then filled with neutral 
buffered formlin via the aorta.  All major vessels were clamped, hearts 
were immersed in NBF 3 to 6 hours (lesser time for mouse may be adequate 
due to size) .  Hearts were then infused with prewarmed 52C Histogel, 
.  They filled all chambers via aorta using 20 gauge needle, then fixed for 
48 hours.  Hearts were cut using heart matrices to have precise orientation 
and properly thick slicecs.

Email Joanna at joanna.c.barton@gsk.com for more details and when you do 
this, ask her to publish this technic in J of Histotechnolgy.  The heart 
sections were superb with all tiny valve morphological details intact due 
to the distended chambers.   There were no a huge clot of blood in the 
chambers either.

  At 12:12 PM 12/8/2006, you wrote:
>Dear All,
>
>I need to process immersion fixed (NBF) mouse heart for optimum 
>morphological detail of the valves.  Can anyone advise on the best 
>approach??  Is FFPE or cryoprotection/freezing more recommended?  Also, is 
>24h immersion fixation sufficient or does it need to go 
>longer/shorter??  Any advice will be greatly appreciated!!
>
>Many thanks!
>
>d
>
>Danielle Crippen
>
>
>
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Gayle Callis
MT,HT,HTL(ASCP)
Research Histopathology Supervisor
Veterinary Molecular Biology
Montana State University - Bozeman
PO Box 173610
Bozeman MT 59717-3610
406 994-6367
406 994-4303 (FAX)



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