Floating on a water bath and mounting glycol methacrylate and hydroxypropyl methacrylate sections influence final dimensions

This paper reports the dimensional changes occurring in the different steps of the histoprocessing of tissues for light microscopy. Two water-miscible methacrylates used for embedding, namely 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate and 2-hydroxypropyl methacrylate, were investigated. It was found that during stretching on the water bath and in the mounting step considerable size changes occur, which are of the same magnitude as during the dehydration step of histoprocessing. The final dimensions of the sections and of microscopic images are dependent on the response to surface tension at the water surface and mounting of the glycol and hydroxypropyl methacrylate sections, respectively. Between the two resins under study, significant differences in the size of the resin sections, with and without embedded liver tissue, were found. It is shown that the temperature at which the sections are mounted is of great importance. These observations indicate the importance of standardizing histotechniques if morphometry is to be applied.