A new chamber method for mounting tissue sections

We describe a method for mounting tissue sections onto slides that is faster and especially useful for those sections too thin or too large to be mounted easily by conventional methods. We have devised a chamber system for mounting tissue sections onto slides under buffer solution. Because of the buoyancy of sections in the buffer solution and the elimination of fluid surface tension, it is easy to move, turn, unfold, and spread even quite large or thin tissue sections. In-solution-mounting in this chamber also greatly reduces the force of the brush tip used to maneuver sections onto the slide, thus resulting in less damage to the tissue sections. This chamber greatly facilitates mounting multiple tissue sections onto a single slide. The new method is applicable to protocols that stain tissue sections either before (e.g. cytochrome oxidase) or after (e.g. cresyl violet) section mounting.