Impregnation and Embedding Flashcards
Process whereby the clearing agent is completely removed from the tissue and replaced by a medium that will completely fill all the tissue cavities.
Impregnation (infiltration)
Enumerate 4 types of embedding and impregnation media.
- Paraffin Wax
- Celloidin
- Gelatin
- Plastic
What is the most common, simplest, and best embedding medium used for routine tissue processing?
Paraffin wax
What embedding medium allows cut sections to stick together edge-to-edge, forming a “ribbon” of sections, but is not recommended for fatty tissues?
simplest, most common, and best embedding wax
Paraffin wax
True or False.
An overheated specimen makes the specimen to be brittle.
True
What is the melting point of paraffin wax?
56°C - 58°C
What is the melting point of a paraplast?
56°-57°C
What is the melting point of a embeddol?
56°-58°C
Identify the type of paraffin wax.
- More elastic/resilient
- Permits large dense tissue blocks (bones & brain) to be cut easily
- Better ribboning of sections
Paraplast
Identify the type of paraffin wax.
- Synthetic wax substitute similar to Paraplast
- Less brittle and compressible than Paraplast.
Embeddol
Identify the type of paraffin wax.
- Harder than paraffin wax
- H2O insoluble
- Can be used for impregnation without prior clearing of tissue.
Ester wax
What is the melting point of ester wax?
46°-48°C
What is the other name for water-soluble waxes?
polyethylene glycol
What is the melting point of polyethylene glycol?
38°-42°C
What refers to the primary processor that is used today whereby tissue is stationary and fluids are pumped in and out of the pressurized chamber holding the tissue?
Closed system
What is the major advantage of using a closed system for tissue processors?
specimens cannot dry out in the tissue chamber in the event of malfunction
What is added to plastic polymer paraffin waxes that reduces infiltration time?
Dimethyl sulphoxide (DMSO)
A purified form of nitrocellulose soluble in many solvents
Celloidin