Problem
Gross examination
What happens?
How big should the tissue pieces be cut?
Fixation
What types of fixatives are used?
What is the most common type of fixative? What is the reason for fixation?
What is the volume of fixative to that of the specimen? What fixative is a gas soluble in water?
Which fixative is poisonous? Which fixative is explosive?
Decalcification
When do you decalcify?
What do you use to decalcify samples? What is the most common type of agents used for decalcifying? How long does this process take? What are the steps in this procedure? What is the most common type of acid used?
Dehydration
What is the purpose of this procedure? How is it accomplished?
What will happen to tissues that are not completely dehydrated and they go into the clearing step and/or cutting step?
Clearing
What is the purpose of this step? What types of chemicals are used? What is the most common type of clearing agent used? What is done to improve processing times thru steps 1 to 5? The amount of
clearing fluid should be how many times the bulk of the tissue
Impregnation/Infiltration
What are the types of product used here? What are the melting points of these?
What is another name for this procedure? How does this automated processor speed up this process?
Embedding
What is the purpose of this procedure?
How should I place a tissue that has a mark on it(where should that mark be)?
Cutting
Describe this procedure.
What is the name of the instrument used?
What are some problems encountered in thisstep? What is the temperature of the water bath? What
is added to the water bath and why?
How thick are the tissues cut?
Clearing
What is the purpose of this? How is this accomplished?
Hydration
What is the purpose of this? How is this accomplished?
Staining
What is the name of the stain used in histology? What type of staining is this?
What is the most critical step in the staining procedure? How is this accomplished?
What does the term bluing mean?
What can be done if you over differentiate a section?
What is the ripening agent in the stain?
Cover slipping
Describe the procedure?
What must be done before you can proceed? What is the purpose of this procedure?
How is this accomplished