spraying slides

[frosty45]

Hi, has anyone ever had to spray paraffin slides with bleach or any other disinfectant BEFORE rehydrating? An investigator wants some paraffin samples sectioned and then send them off site for IHC. The issue is everything coming out of our containment area must be sprayed with 2% bleach or sodium hydroxide and left for an hour first. Would the paraffin be enough to protect the tissue? They would be rinsed off once leaving the containment area.  Will this affect the IHC results at all?  Any thoughts on this would be great.  Thanks!

[excalibur]

This is ridiculous. & yes, it will affect the IHC.

[Cardio]

This is ridiculous. & yes, it will affect the IHC.

LOL Excalibur!

Yes that sounds pretty ridiculous and the only way around it is to process the samples and ship them to the group that is performing the IHC and have them cut them or embed them.

[CanuckPhD]

if you absolutely need to spray the tissue with bleach (and I have no clue why you would have to do this) an option to protect the sections might be to cut the sections, bake them (55 degrees for 1 hour) and then dip them in paraffin to coat them. Allow the wax to harden overnight and then spray them. When the dewax the slides the paraffin will be removed and the tissue should be okay.

[frosty45]

Thanks for the info. The reason for spraying the slides is that EVERYTHING leaving level 3 containment has to be disinfected in case it was contaminated in anyway, especially if the material is leaving the building. That being said we are just shipping the blocks out ( which is what i suggested in the first place) which makes things 100% easier.