Can these be saved?
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Can these be saved?
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
https://www.dropbox.com/s/6dlnx6zyvglo2 ... 3.JPG?dl=0
Perry
Insatiably curious.
Insatiably curious.
Re: Can these be saved?
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.
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Re: Can these be saved?
What is happening to the specimen during the soaking and flooding of the slide?Tom Jones wrote: ↑Sat Jul 09, 2022 2:30 amYes. 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.
Re: Can these be saved?
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.
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Re: Can these be saved?
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
https://www.dropbox.com/s/f49zk7bjorey6 ... 5.JPG?dl=0
Perry
Insatiably curious.
Insatiably curious.
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- Posts: 112
- Joined: Mon Jun 15, 2020 9:13 pm
- Location: Georgia