What is that?
Aqueous mounting medium.
When do you use it?
When you prepare a histological section (can be IHC) and you don’t want to dehydrate in order to preserve the structure, use Kaiser’s gelatine. Especially useful for Cryosections and Vibratome sections.
How to prepare it?
Mix 4g Gelatine powder with 21g dH2O. Allow the gelatine to soak for ~10min. Then gently heat the liquid (do not boil) and dissolve the gelatine. A stirr-bar is your friend. Then add 25ml Glycerol. Stirr until everything is homogenous. Finally add 0.5g Phenol (conservant) and mix until it is dissolved. Keep everything liquid (~37°C is fine).
How to use it?
When solidified, gently heat above 37°C. Do not boil.
When liquid, apply one drop onto the histological section after staining. Do not dehydrate the tissue, just wash with water.
Then quickly place a coverglass on top. Do not press down.
Place a paper towel onto a heating plate and set it to ~60°C.
Lay down the covered slide and leave the job to gravity. Then remove the slide, allow it to cool and observe.
Risks?
Phenol is toxic. Use with care. It can also bleach some dyes.
Test with single slides in advance – don’t ruin a whole batch.
List of reagents:
- 4g Gelatine
- 21g dH2O
- 25g Glycerol
- 0.5g Phenol