Celloidin-wax sandwich microtomy: a novel and rapid method for producing serial semithin sections

A method is described that allows rapid and reliable serial sectioning down to thicknesses of 1 micron. The tissue is first embedded in celloidin and then in wax and trimmed so that the block is sandwiched between two layers of wax. This combines the virtues of both media. The celloidin gives greater support to tissue than wax and enables the cutting of semithin sections. The wax allows ribbons of serial sections to be produced as in conventional wax microtomy. This makes it easy to produce serial semithin sections as a matter of routine.