The use of Commercially Available Adhesive Tapes to Preserve Cartilage and Bone Tissue Integrity During Cryosectioning

Abstract

The use of fluorescent tags to monitor protein expression and to lineage-trace cells has become a standard complement to standard histological techniques in the fields of embryology, pathology and regenerative medicine. Unfortunately, traditional paraffin embedding protocols can substantially diminish or abolish the native emission signal of the fluorophore of interest. To preserve the fluorescent signal, an alternative is to use cryosectioning; however, this can often result in undesirable artefacts such as tearing or shattering particularly for mineralized tissues such as bone and cartilage. Here we present a method of using a commercially available tape to stabilize murine femur tissue, thus allowing for cryosectioning of cartilage and bone tissues carrying fluorescent tags without the need for demineralization.

Heat‐Shrinkable Electrospun Fibrous Tape for Restoring Structure and Function of Loose Soft Tissue

“…High‐strength and wear‐resistant materials such as polypropylene mesh [ 10 ] were first used to strengthen soft tissue which successfully lifted the LST and improved weakened mechanical support after tissue relaxation to a certain extent, [ 11 ] however, because of the inflammatory reaction and chronic pain caused by the exposure of this non‐degradable mesh, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued warnings for clinical application of this type of mesh in 2007 and 2011. [ 12 ] Given this situation, emerging commercial tapes can not only perfectly solve the problem of biocompatibility, [ 13 ] but also play a crucial role in strengthening loose tissue. However, tightly pasted and fixated, the soft tissue loses its contractility, which seriously affects its functional recovery.…”

Methodology, selection, and integration of fracture healing assessments in mice

“…59 A study utilizing fluorescence marking may wish to avoid paraffin embedding as it may disrupt the desired fluorescent emission. 60 In this case, samples may be prepared using cryoembedding and cyrosectioning, in which samples are frozen in a solution such as Optimal Cutting Temperature (O.C.T.) compound, a mixture of glycols and resins, to maintain fluorescence after sectioning.…”

“…compound, a mixture of glycols and resins, to maintain fluorescence after sectioning. 60 Blocks containing embedded tissues are then sliced into micrometer wide sections and stained before analysis.…”

A novel cryo-embedding method for in-depth analysis of craniofacial mini pig bone specimens

“…Methods for handling undecalcified resin-embedded tissue sections on adhesive tapes were first proposed 30 years ago 31 . Since then, several tape techniques for handling cryo-embedded tissues have been introduced 32,33 but obtaining high-quality undecalcified sections has consistently been described as difficult 34 . To our knowledge, this is the first report of cryo-embedding tape techniques for the analysis of undecalcified large bone specimens.…”