Thickness variations within individual paraffin and glycol methacrylate sections

Area of Science:

• Histology
• Materials Science

Background:

• Paraffin and glycol methacrylate (GMA) embedding are common techniques in histology.
• Variations in section thickness can impact the accuracy of quantitative histological analyses.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate intra-section thickness variations in paraffin and glycol methacrylate (GMA) sections.
• To compare the smoothness of paraffin sections versus GMA sections for histological applications.

Main Methods:

• Sections of liver and urinary bladder were prepared using both paraffin and GMA embedding techniques.
• Steel or glass knives were used for sectioning.
• An interference microscope was employed to measure section thickness variations.
• Re-embedding and re-sectioning were performed to validate findings.

Main Results:

• Paraffin sections exhibited intra-section thickness variations of 1-3 microns.
• Glycol methacrylate (GMA) sections demonstrated significantly smoother surfaces with variations of approximately 0.3 microns.
• Some thickness variations in paraffin sections were correlated with the presence of cell nuclei.

Conclusions:

• Glycol methacrylate (GMA) sections are substantially smoother than paraffin sections.
• GMA sections are more suitable for quantitative histological studies due to their superior uniformity.
• The findings highlight the importance of section quality in histological measurements.