One of the ways I protect paraffin slides is to dip in hot paraffin and store at 4 degrees C in a air tight box. Certain antigens can degrade within 30 days, especially estrogen and progesterone. Some antigens seem stable for months. When you take the box out of the refrigerato, let it come to room temperature (30 minutes). This way condensation will be lessonEd or eliminatEd
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After sectioning, store paraffin block at room temperature.
Store stained slides in appropriate boxes (avoid prolonged exposure to light).
Dissecting board (plastic boards are preferred as they can be easily cleaned and autoclaved).
Blunt ended forceps (serrated forceps may damage small animal tissues).
Scalpels blades and handle.
Plastic bags and paper towels.
Containers for histological specimens, cassettes and permanent abels. Containers and cassettes, should be correctly labeled before starting tissue trimming.
Tissue water bath with a thermometer. Alternatively a thermostatic warm plate can be used.
Disposable microtome blades (for routine paraffin sections use wedge-shaped blades).
Sharps container to discard used blades.
Fine paint brushes to remove paraffin debris.
Forceps to handle the ribbons of paraffin sections.
Clean standard 75 × 25 mm microscope glass slides (other dimension microscope glass slides are commercially available).
Laboratory oven (set at 37°C).
Coated glass slides (e.g., Superfrost® or Superfrost Plus®). This is especially recommended when slides are used for immunohistochemistry.
0.1% gelatin in water (1 g of gelatin in 1 L of distillated water). This should not be used with Superfrost® or Superfrost Plus® slides and should be reserved for immunohistology sections