MODULE 2.

9: MOUNTING AND LABELLING

• It should not leach out any stain or affect staining.
COURSE CONTENT • It should not change in color or pH.
I Mounting and labelling • It should set hard, thereby producing permanent mounting
A Types sections.
i Aqueous o Slides for mounting should be properly
ii Resinous
B Composition and preparation
labeled with laboratory or case number to
C Techniques identify the section and avoid any damage or
D Precautions partial loss of sections caused by wiping the
“wrong” side of the slide.
TWO MAIN GROUPS OF MOUNTING MEDIA:
MOUNTING MEDIUM • Aqueous
• Resinous
• Aka Mountant
• A syrupy fluid applied between the section and the coverslip AQUEOUS MOUNTING MEDIA
after staining, setting the section firmly, preventing the • Aqueous media are designed to mount water –miscible
movement of the coverslip. preparation directly from water in cases where the stain is
• It protects the stained sections from: removed or decolorized with alcohol or xylene.
✓ Getting scratched • They are usually made up of:
✓ Bleaching ✓ Gelatin
✓ Deterioration due to oxidation ✓ Glycerin Jelly
• Thereby preserving the slides for permanent keeping, to ✓ Glycerol
facilitate easy handling and storage. ✓ Sugar
• Tissues should therefore be impregnated with transparent EXAMPLES OF COMMON AQUEOUS MOUNTING
medium with a refractive index close to the glass and the MEDIA USED ARE THE FOLLOWING:
tissue A. WATER
I. The slide carrying the section to be mounted is • Has a low refractive index, is moderately transparent and
taken from the last xylene bath with forceps. evaporates easily, hence is good only for temporary
II. Excess xylene is wiped off from the back of the mounting.
slide and from around the section. • Furthermore, water does not allow tissues to be examined
III. A drop of mounting medium is placed down the under the oil immersion lens.
center of the slide. B.GLYCERIN
IV. A clean, dry cover glass is placed on the edge of
the slide and gradually inclined downward until it • Refractive Index – 1.46
touches the mounting medium and gently pressed • May also be used as preservative, has a high index of
on the slide while mounting medium quickly refraction.
spreads through the whole area of the section. • It provides greater visibility if slightly diluted with water (for
• Too little mounting medium may also cause improper moist sections).
setting of the coverslip or formation of bubbles on the • This is very suitable semi – permanent mounting medium
section. Excessive mounting medium will cause it to ooze with a refractive index of 1.46, and will keep sections
out of the slides of the cover glass and should be carefully mounted for years, especially if sealed on the edges with
wiped with a fine cloth moistened with xylene. paraffin wax.
• If the section has to be remounted, the cover glass may be C.GLYCERIN JELLY (KAISER’S 1880)
removed by soaking in xylene. • Refractive Index – 1.47
A GOOD MOUNTING MEDIUM MUST HAVE THE • Glycerin jelly is the standard mounting medium used when
FOLLOWING CHARACTERISTICS: dehydration and clearing with xylene cannot be made (as in
fat stains).
• To avoid distortion of the image, the refractive index of the
• Its advantage lies in the fact that it should be melted before
mountant should be as near as possible to the of the glass.
use (due to presence of gelatin).
• Stains mounted on glycerin jelly tend to fade.
Refractive Index – ratio of speed of light in air and speed of
light in a specific medium. D.FARRANT’S MEDIUM
Refractive Index of Glass – 1.518 • Refractive Index – 1.43
• It should be freely miscible with xylene and toluene. E. APATHY’S MEDIUM
• It should not dry quickly. • Refractive Index – 1.52
• It should not crack or produce artefactual granularity on the F. BRUN’S FLUID
slide upon drying.
• It should not dissolve out or fade tissue sections. • Recommended for mounting frozen section from water.
• It should not cause shrinkage and distortion of tissues.

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RESINOUS MOUNTING MEDIA 5. Von Apathy’s Gum Syrup Medium

• Resinous media are used for preparations that have been 6. Farrant’s Medium
dehydrated and cleared in xylene or toluene and are 7. Levulose (Fructose) Syrup
recommended for majority staining methods. RINGING
• They may be divided into natural and synthetic resins. • Ringing is the process of sealing the margins of the cover
• The most important synthetic resins are used for slip to prevent the escape of fluid or semi – fluid mounts and
embedding undecalcified bones, for electron microscopy, evaporation of mountant, to immobilize the coverslip, and to
and for embedding 1 – 2 sections for light microscopy in prevent sticking of the slides upon storage
comparison with electron microscopy of the same material. • Kroning Cement
EXAMPLES OF COMMON RESINOUS MOUNTING o The ringing media used may be KRONING
MEDIA USED ARE THE FOLLOWING: CEMENT made up of two parts paraffin wax
A. CANADA BALSAM mixed with 4 – 9 parts powdered colophonium
resin, heated and filtered. Also available are
cellulose adhesives such as Duroflix.
BROKEN SLIDES
• Mounting a broken slide on to another clean xylene – moist
slide with a drop of mounting media (Clarite or Permount)
may be sufficient for immediate examination
• If the important slide is broken and replacement is not
available, the section (if still intact) may be transferred to
another slide.
• Refractive Index – 1.524 LABELLING
• Canada balsam is a natural resin extracted from the TISSUE CONTAINERS
Canadian tree. • Place the specimen label on the container, not the lid.
• Abus balsamea is usually dissolved in xylene in an • For multiple specimens, each specimen should go into a
incubator at 37° or paraffin oven at 58° and filtered, separate container, labeled with the correct anatomic site
obtaining the desired consistency by controlled and correspond to the listed specimens on the requisition
evaporation of the solvent. CASSETTES/TISSUE BLOCKS
B. DPX
• Refractive Index – 1.532 • should be properly labeled
• This is a resinous medium recommended for small tissue with the accession number,
sections but not for whole mounts because of shrinkage block designation, and patient
produced on drying; hence, it should be used in excess name.
amounts.
C. XAM
• Refractive Index - 1.52
• Xam is a synthetic resin mixture in xylene, available in a SLIDES
pale yellow or colorless solution. It dries quickly without
retraction and preserve stains well. • should be labeled on the
• Sections are quickly mounted from xylene. frosted end with the accession
D. CLARITE number, slide designation and
• Refractive Index – 1.544 patient name form.
• Clarite (or Clarite X) is a synthetic resin which is soluble in
xylene and is generally preferred over D.P.X.
• Other recommended synthetic mounting media include
Permount (made by Fisher Scientific), H.S.R.
(HarlecoSythetic Resin) and Clermount (Gurr).
PERMANENT MOUNTING MEDIA
• These are resins, either natural or synthetic (soluble in
alcohol).
1. Canada Balsam
2. D.P.X. REFERENCES
3. Clarite
4. Eukit
Notes from the discussion by
5. Entellan
SEMIPERMANENT OR TEMPORARY MOUNTING
Bruce-Gregorios, Jocelyn H. (2016). Histopathologic
MEDIA
• For some preparations, it is imperative not to use the techniques. revised ed. Quezon City
permanent xylol – resin mounting media, because xylol : Goodwill Trading. 356 p.: ill. RES/616.07583028/B83/2016.
dissolves out the essential staining, an example is fat stains
(neautral fats stained in frozen sections by Oil Red O, Histopathologic Techniques Board Exam Review Notes by
Sudan IV, etc.), these may be mounted in one of the Vill Patrick M. de Leon, RMT, MD
following:
1. Water
2. Glycerin (glycerol) CMLS Faculty's Histopathology lecture notes
3. Mineral oil (Liquid paraffin)
4. Glycerin Jelly (Glycerol Gelatin)

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