Can these be saved?

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perrywespa
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Can these be saved?

#1 Post by perrywespa » Fri Jul 08, 2022 8:33 pm

These are two of several human histology slides from 1978. Can the cover slides be removed and replaced with new mountant? I've read about soaking the slide in acetone/xylene to remove the old coverslip. Does anyone have any experience with this? Thanks in advance.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/6dlnx6zyvglo2 ... 3.JPG?dl=0
Perry
Insatiably curious.

Tom Jones
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Re: Can these be saved?

#2 Post by Tom Jones » Sat Jul 09, 2022 2:30 am

Yes. Before I retired I re-coverslipped a couple hundred teaching slides I had made as a student and mounted with Permount. Soak in Xylene if you can. It's a lot faster than the citrus-based solvents. They work, they're just slower. Xylene should loosen the coverslip in a couple of days. Flood the slide with Xylene to wash off any remaining old mountant. Then put a new coverslip and fresh mountant on it and you're good.

perrywespa
Posts: 112
Joined: Mon Jun 15, 2020 9:13 pm
Location: Georgia

Re: Can these be saved?

#3 Post by perrywespa » Sat Jul 09, 2022 11:50 am

Thanks!
Perry
Insatiably curious.

GerryR
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Re: Can these be saved?

#4 Post by GerryR » Sun Jul 10, 2022 1:38 pm

Tom Jones wrote:
Sat Jul 09, 2022 2:30 am
Yes. Before I retired I re-coverslipped a couple hundred teaching slides I had made as a student and mounted with Permount. Soak in Xylene if you can. It's a lot faster than the citrus-based solvents. They work, they're just slower. Xylene should loosen the coverslip in a couple of days. Flood the slide with Xylene to wash off any remaining old mountant. Then put a new coverslip and fresh mountant on it and you're good.
What is happening to the specimen during the soaking and flooding of the slide?

Tom Jones
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Joined: Wed Apr 13, 2016 3:47 pm

Re: Can these be saved?

#5 Post by Tom Jones » Sun Jul 10, 2022 3:59 pm

Nothing. The tissue or blood smear remains fixed to the glass as long as you don't accidentally scrape part of it off! I can't vouch for specimens not originally fixed to the glass slide.

perrywespa
Posts: 112
Joined: Mon Jun 15, 2020 9:13 pm
Location: Georgia

Re: Can these be saved?

#6 Post by perrywespa » Mon Jul 11, 2022 11:50 am

Success! Soaking slides overnight in xylene and coverslips came right off. Cleaned the slides carefully, applied fresh mountant and a new coverslip. A little messy but final result looks great. Thanks to all.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/f49zk7bjorey6 ... 5.JPG?dl=0
Perry
Insatiably curious.


perrywespa
Posts: 112
Joined: Mon Jun 15, 2020 9:13 pm
Location: Georgia

Re: Can these be saved?

#8 Post by perrywespa » Wed Jul 13, 2022 6:20 pm

Thanks for the article.
Perry
Insatiably curious.

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