title: Development of a live tissue microtome: reflections of an amateur machinist.
abstract: Live circular tissue slices of nearly identical diameter and thickness can be generated from most tissues by the use of two instruments; a coring tool to cut cylindrical tissue cores which are subsequently sliced by a microtome into thin circular sections 5-8 mm in diameter and 50-300 microns thick. The sections are of very similar geometry permitting direct comparisons without normalization. Both instruments operate submerged in a cold isotonic medium that caries the cut slices outside the microtome. The slices are cut by a rapidly oscillating disposable Gillette blade mounted at an angle of 20 degrees to the vertical main axis of the tissue core. The latter is advanced against the oscillating blade by a weighted plunger pushing it against a screw adjustable limit plate that defines the desired slice thickness. Both instruments can be sterilized and slices can be obtained at a rate of approximately one every ten seconds.
authors.affiliation: Department of Nutrition Sciences, School of Medicine,University of Alabama at Birmingham,Cornelius, NC 28031, USA. clkrumdieck@gmail.com
authors.forename: Carlos L
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Krumdieck
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D006801:Humans; D042282:Microdissection / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods*; D008867:Microtomy / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods*