Mounting media: An overview

Ravikumar, Shamala; Surekha, R.; Thavarajah, Rooban

doi:10.4103/2277-8632.128479

Cited by 33 publications

(28 citation statements)

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“…chapter 3.7.3 Refractive index of mounting media; Lillie et al 1953, p. 57;Krauter 1983;Kiernan 2015, p. 53, tab. 4.1;Ravikumar et al 2014). If a specimen is intended for mounting in a hydrocarbon-soluble medium, aniline oil (toxic, carcinogen), anise oil, benzene, benzyl benzoate, bergamot oil, cajeput oil (= cajuput oil), cedarwood oil, cinnamon oil (= cassia oil), clove oil, creosote (a mixture of various phenols), isoamyl acetate, limonene, methyl benzoate (= Niobe oil), methyl salicylate (= wintergreen oil), origanum oil, phenol, terpineol (= artificial oil of lilac), tert-butyl alcohol, or oil of turpentine (applied first about 1843) may be used for clearing the specimen ( Fig.…”

Section: Physical Clearingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…(b) Especially diatom specialists need a much higher refractive index than the regular media offer. (c) Histologists require information about compatibility of stains with the mounting medium and a refractive index close to that of the tissue (Lillie et al 1950(Lillie et al , 1953Gill 2013, p. 262;Ravikumar et al 2014). Lillie et al (1950Lillie et al ( , 1953 investigate the suitability of several mounting media for stained histological sections.…”

Section: Coverslipsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Collection management and study of microscope slides: Storage, profiling, deterioration, restoration procedures, and general recommendations

Neuhaus

Schmid

Riedel

2017

Zootaxa

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A wide range of aspects concerning microscope slides, their preparation, long-time storage, curatorial measures in collections, deterioration, restoration, and study is summarized based on our own data and by analyzing more than 600 references from the 19th century until 2016, 15 patents, and about 100 Materials Safety Data Sheets. Information from systematic zoology, conservation sciences, chemistry, forensic sciences, pathology, paleopathology, applied sciences like food industry, and most recent advances in digital imaging are put together in order to obtain a better understanding of which and possibly why mounting media and coverslip seals deteriorate, how slides can be salvaged, which studies may be necessary to identify a range of ideal mounting media, and how microscope studies can benefit from improvements in developmental biology and related fields. We also elaborate on confusing usage of concepts like that of maceration and of clearing. The chemical ingredients of a range of mounting media and coverslip seals are identified as much as possible from published data, but this information suffers in so far as the composition of a medium is often proprietary of the manufacturer and may vary over time. Advantages, disadvantages, and signs of deterioration are documented extensively for these media both from references and from our own observations. It turns out that many media degrade within a few years, or decades at the latest, except Canada balsam with a documented life-time of 150 years, Euparal with a documented life-time of 50 years, and glycerol-paraffin mounts sealed with Glyceel, which represents almost the only non-deteriorating and easily reversible mount. Deterioration reveals itself as a yellowing in natural resins and as cracking, crystallization, shrinkage on drying or possibly on loss of a plasticizer, detachment of the coverslip, segregation of the ingredients in synthetic polymers, as well as continued maceration of a specimen to a degree that the specimen virtually disappears. Confusingly, decay does not always appear equally within a collection of slides mounted at the same time in the same medium. The reasons for the deteriorative processes have been discussed but are controversial especially for gum-chloral media. Comparing data from conservation sciences, chemical handbooks, and documented ingredients, we discuss here how far chemical and physical deterioration probably are inherent to many media and are caused by the chemical and physical properties of their components and by chemicals dragged along from previous preparation steps like fixation, chemical maceration, and physical clearing. Some recipes even contain a macerating agent, which proceeds with its destructive work. We provide permeability data for oxygen and water vapor of several polymers contained in mounting media and coverslip seals. Calculation of the penetration rate of moisture in one example reveals that water molecules reach a specimen within a few days up to about a month; this lays to rest extensive discussions about the permanent protection of a mounted specimen by a mounting medium and a coverslip seal. Based on the ever growing evidence of the unsuitable composition and application of many, and possibly almost all, mounting media, we strongly encourage changing the perspective on microscope slides from immediate usability and convenience of preparation towards durability and reversibility, concepts taken from conservation sciences. Such a change has already been suggested by Upton (1993) more than 20 years ago for gum-chloral media, but these media are still encouraged nowadays by scientists. Without a new perspective, taxonomic biology will certainly lose a large amount of its specimen basis for its research within the next few decades. Modern non-invasive techniques like Raman spectroscopy may help to identify mounting media and coverslip seals on a given slide as well as to understand ageing of the media. An outlook is given on potential future studies. In order to improve the situation of existing collections of microscope slides, we transfer concepts as per the Smithsonian Collections Standards and Profiling System, developed for insect collections more than 25 years ago, to collections of slides. We describe historical and current properties and usage of glass slides, coverslips, labels, and adhesives under conservational aspects. In addition, we summarize and argue from published and our own experimental information about restorative procedures, including re-hydration of dried-up specimens previously mounted in a fluid medium. Alternatives to microscope slides are considered. We also extract practical suggestions from the literature concerning microscope equipment, cleaning of optical surfaces, health risks of immersion oil, and recent improvements of temporary observation media especially in connection with new developments in digital software.

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Section: Physical Clearingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Coverslipsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Collection management and study of microscope slides: Storage, profiling, deterioration, restoration procedures, and general recommendations

Neuhaus

Schmid

Riedel

2017

Zootaxa

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“…This can be corrected by placing the tissue with proper mounting media. 13 Air bubbles will appear when mounting media with evaporated xylene is used for the purpose of mounting. This can be prevented using a proper mounting media placed in an air-tight container where xylene evaporation is avoided (Fig.…”

Section: Mounting Mediamentioning

confidence: 99%

Troubleshooters in Light Microscopy

2017

World Journal of Dentistry

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“…They require anti-fungal or bacteriostatic agents like phenol or thymol to prevent the growth of undesired organisms. If glycerine and glycerol jelly are used for long term preparations, sealing the edges of the cover slip with nail polish or paraffin and Araldite (Ranga Reddy, Shaik, & Totakura, 2015) is necessary to avoid contact with air which can damage the specimen (Camacho & Puch, 1990;Ravikumar et al, 2014). The seal should be re-laid periodically since the nail polish tends to shrink and crack.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Several water or organic solvent based mounting media can isolate and protect specimens from the atmosphere, and ideally should be transparent, resistant to contamination by fungi or bacteria, and set without crystallizing or shrinking to facilitate preservation and observation with a compound microscope (Ravikumar, Surekha, & Thavarajah, 2014). Euparal, Canadian Balsam, and Eukitt are popular water-insoluble mounting media for invertebrates and have different advantages and disadvantages.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Permanent slides for morphological studies of small crustaceans: Serban’s method and its variation applied on Bathynellacea (Malacostraca)

Perina

Camacho

2016

Crustac

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Morphological studies of small invertebrates often involve the preparation of slides to observe minute body parts under a compound microscope. Preparation should facilitate observation, through traditional optic microscopy, of small surface structures on different planes, like pores, spines and setae. Various methods and techniques, using different mounting media that specialists have adopted to observe and preserve small crustaceans, have their advantages and disadvantages.Within the order Bathynellacea, specimens in the family Bathynellidae are particularly challenging due to their small size (0.5 to 2.25 mm body length) and very delicate exoskeleton, which tends to be completely digested when using common clearing mounting media, making future consultations impossible. Permanent slides are fundamental to preserve small specimens for scientific collections, because temporary slide preparations can easily result in the loss of body parts in the passage between slide and vial and vice versa.Dr Eugene Serban worked on Bathynellacea for more than 40 years, improving the preparation and preservation of delicate specimens using stained glycerol-jelly and double cover slip mounting technique. His method is described here with a variation that speeds up the original procedure and implemented in most recent years by one of the authors (Camacho). The technique provides excellent preservation and visualisation of body parts on permanent slides, which do not need curation tasks and can last for many years.

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Mounting media: An overview

Cited by 33 publications

References 0 publications

Collection management and study of microscope slides: Storage, profiling, deterioration, restoration procedures, and general recommendations

Collection management and study of microscope slides: Storage, profiling, deterioration, restoration procedures, and general recommendations

Troubleshooters in Light Microscopy

Permanent slides for morphological studies of small crustaceans: Serban’s method and its variation applied on Bathynellacea (Malacostraca)

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