EMBEDDING / CASTING / BLOCKING
Placing infiltrated tissue in a mold containing the embedding medium which is allowed to solidify
Paraffin wax is the commonly used embedding medium, plastic resins is also used but rarely
Requirements: embedding mold, embedding medium and infiltrated tissue
Paraffin should be melted
Temperature of melted paraffin used for embedding is 5-10 degC above its melting point
Tissue block – product of embedding
2 methods to allow solidification of block
o Place the preparation inside the refrigerator at -5degC
o Immerse it in cold water
Trimming – cutting off excess paraffin wax to form a four-sided prism
EMBEDDING MOLDS
2 GENERAL TYPES OF EMBEDDING MOLDS
DISPOSABLE NON-DISPOSABLE
1. Peel away molds 1. Leuckhart’s – consist of 2 L-shaped strips made of
Advantage: heavy brass or metal (mahirap gamitin kase kailangan
a. Can produce perfect blocks even without mo munang i-assemble)
trimming Advantage: Can produce blocks of different sizes
2. Paper Boat 2. Compound embedding unit – to embed more than
Advantage: one spx
a. Economical 3. Plastic embedding rings and base molds
b. Cheap 4. Tissue Tek
c. Easy to make/prepare Advantages:
1. ease of use
2. less paraffin wax needed,
3. Plastic ice trays – Prior to using it, you need to use 3. faster embedding,
the inner mold with glycerin to facilitate easy 4. firmly attached tissue and holder
removal of blocks; Recommended for busy routine 5. permanent identification
laboratory 6. produces easier orientation when resectioning of
tissue is required
7. blocks can be filed immediately after sectioning.
Double embedding – When we infiltrate using celloidin then embed using paraffin wax so magkaiba yung
ginamit mong medium sa infiltration and embedding.
Disadvantage of double embedding: (asa book)
- A shortcoming of using agar as the pre-embedding media is that certain tissues shrink during the
embedding process, and the agar-based pre-embedding media limits tissue expansion during slide
mounting, resulting in difficulties with the tissue sample adhering to the microscope slide
Ung paperboat para syang maliit na box then bubuhusan mo ng paraffin wax na tunaw then pag tumigas
tatanggalin mo yung moldeSD [di ka nakinig dahil nagaabang ka ng Miss U]
Placing infiltrated tissue in a mold containing the embedding medium which is allowed to solidify
Paraffin wax is the commonly used embedding medium, plastic resins is also used but rarely
Requirements: embedding mold, embedding medium and infiltrated tissue
Paraffin should be melted
Temperature of melted paraffin used for embedding is 5-10 degC above its melting point
Tissue block – product of embedding
2 methods to allow solidification of block
o Place the preparation inside the refrigerator at -5degC
o Immerse it in cold water
Trimming – cutting off excess paraffin wax to form a four-sided prism
EMBEDDING MOLDS
2 GENERAL TYPES OF EMBEDDING MOLDS
DISPOSABLE NON-DISPOSABLE
1. Peel away molds 1. Leuckhart’s – consist of 2 L-shaped strips made of
Advantage: heavy brass or metal (mahirap gamitin kase kailangan
a. Can produce perfect blocks even without mo munang i-assemble)
trimming Advantage: Can produce blocks of different sizes
2. Paper Boat 2. Compound embedding unit – to embed more than
Advantage: one spx
a. Economical 3. Plastic embedding rings and base molds
b. Cheap 4. Tissue Tek
c. Easy to make/prepare Advantages:
1. ease of use
2. less paraffin wax needed,
3. Plastic ice trays – Prior to using it, you need to use 3. faster embedding,
the inner mold with glycerin to facilitate easy 4. firmly attached tissue and holder
removal of blocks; Recommended for busy routine 5. permanent identification
laboratory 6. produces easier orientation when resectioning of
tissue is required
7. blocks can be filed immediately after sectioning.
Double embedding – When we infiltrate using celloidin then embed using paraffin wax so magkaiba yung
ginamit mong medium sa infiltration and embedding.
Disadvantage of double embedding: (asa book)
- A shortcoming of using agar as the pre-embedding media is that certain tissues shrink during the
embedding process, and the agar-based pre-embedding media limits tissue expansion during slide
mounting, resulting in difficulties with the tissue sample adhering to the microscope slide
Ung paperboat para syang maliit na box then bubuhusan mo ng paraffin wax na tunaw then pag tumigas
tatanggalin mo yung moldeSD [di ka nakinig dahil nagaabang ka ng Miss U]
