title: Can you trust your cryostat? Reproducibility of cryostat section thickness.
abstract: Reproducibility of cryostat section thickness is required for valid quantitative microscopy. This is generally pursued by motorized sectioning using a low but constant speed. The purpose of our study was to compare variation in section thickness between motorized and manual cryostat sectioning. Serial sections were cut from a frozen block of homogenized tissue on different days. Lactate dehydrogenase activity was histochemically detected and calibrated absorbance measurements were taken. The coefficients of variation of measurements was 9.7% for motorized sectioning and 3.3% for manual sectioning. In conclusion, section thickness is similarly reproducible after manual sectioning compared with motorized sectioning, if not better.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosurgery, Academic Medical Center, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands. P.C.deWittHamer@amc.nl
authors.forename: Philip C
authors.initials: PC
authors.lastname: De Witt Hamer
authors.forename: Fonnet E
authors.initials: FE
authors.lastname: Bleeker
authors.forename: Aeilko H
authors.initials: AH
authors.lastname: Zwinderman
authors.forename: Cornelis J F
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Van Noorden
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001331:Automation / Q000592:standards; D016616:Cryoultramicrotomy / Q000592:standards*; D007770:L-Lactate Dehydrogenase / Q000032:analysis; D008099:Liver / Q000166:cytology; D051381:Rats; D015203:Reproducibility of Results
chemical_list: D007770:L-Lactate Dehydrogenase