David,

Have you ever tried to section toenails using a cryostat?  Surprisingly
they section beautifully.  If they have been in formalin, I assume they
have been paraffin processed. Perhaps you could melt them down, remove them
from the paraffin and embed in a frozen section embedding media like
Cryomatrix. I've cut fresh toenails, but not ones that have been processed.
Processed ones may not adhere very well to the slide.

You'd think at first that cutting toenails would be horrible to section on
a cryostat, but think about this. The toenails are hard. Using a Cryomatrix
that freezes to a hardness close to that of the embedded toenail, actually
makes them easier to section. I experienced this once doing a Cryostat demo
for a group of dermatologists that specialized in toenails. I was at first
very skeptical that this would work and much to my surprise....It worked
GREAT ! Like cutting butter.


Best regards,

Mark

Mark Lewis
Product Specialist
Thermo Shandon
171 Industry Drive, Pittsburgh, PA 15275 USA
Direct: (412) 747-4013
Fax: (412) 788-1097
E-mail: mark.lewis@thermoshandon.com

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                    Dmborel@aol.c                                                          
                    om                   To:     histonet@pathology.swmed.edu              
                                         cc:                                               
                    01/16/2003           Subject:     toenail processing                   
                    04:26 PM                                                               
                                                                                           
                                                                                           




We have a toenail with no attached soft tissue to process for H & E and PAS
with diastase stains.  We have been soaking it in 5% ammonium hydroxide
solution for days, and it is still too brittle to cut on the microtome.
Does anyone have a better protocol?
Thanks,
David Borel