Thickness variations within individual paraffin and glycol methacrylate sections

The object of this study was to investigate whether there are intra-section thickness variations in individual paraffin and glycol methacrylate (GMA) sections. Using steel or glass knives sections were cut from liver and urinary bladder. Section thickness variations were measured with an interference microscope and amounted to 1-3 microns within individual paraffin sections and 0.3 microns within GMA sections. The results were confirmed by observations on sections which had been re-embedded and re-sectioned. Some of the variations within the paraffin sections were associated with the cell nuclei. It is concluded that GMA sections are much smoother than paraffin sections and thus more suitable for quantitative histological studies.