special Mou7its 393 



procedure: 



1. Cut strips of film of desired length; clean by dipping in acid alco- 

 hol; dry with soft cloth (not gauze). 



2. Coat film with albimien fixative. 



3. (a) Place tissue sections on water bath, maneuver film inider rib- 

 bon and pick up sections. Dry in 56° oven. 



(b) Film can be cut in 3 X 1 in. strips; lay on glass slide; smear 

 with albimien. Place section on film, pipette water luider it and 

 dry on slide warmer as usual for slides. 



4. After drying, load lengths of film in reel and stain as usual. Short 

 pieces can be handled individually. To guard against loose sec- 

 tions, protect with coating of 0.5% celloidin or nitrocellulose. Pro- 

 ceed as follows: 



(a) Xylene: 1-2 minutes. 



(b) Absolute alcohol: 1-2 minutes. 



(c) 0.5% celloidin: 5 minutes. 



(d) Air dry: 3-4 minutes. 



(e) 80% alcohol: 5 minutes. 

 (/) Wash and stain. 



(g) Dehydrate through 95%, alcohol. 



(h) Mixture of A chloroform and j absolute alcohol, 2 changes. 

 (i) Xylene. 



5. Place face up on a blotter; do not allow to dry. The film must lie 

 flat; buckling results in uneven plastic coat. Use weights along 

 edges. Apply spray quickly from end to end, 2-3 times luitil sur- 

 face appears smooth. Hold can about 6 inches above film. Allow 

 to harden: 5-10 minutes. Repeat 2-3 times. Allow to dry. 



6. Label with India ink if desired. 



comments: 



Mylar polyester film (DuPont), 0.25 mm. thick also has been recom- 

 mended for use {Johnston, 1960). 



Bnrstone and Flemming (19'>9) recommend film for smears, touch 

 preparations and sprayed-on suspensions. Adherence is excellent and 

 the preparations can be floated on incubation media, staining solu- 

 tions, etc. The film can be mounted in glycerine jelly, or water-solu- 

 ble plastics. 



Berton and Phillips (1961) use film for tissue cultures. The live 

 cells attach and adhere firmly to film. 



