Preparation of Mouse Muscle for Cryosectioning

Materials

• OCT
• Methylbutane or Isopentane (the same thing)
• Liquid Nitrogen or Dry ice (liquid nitrogen preferred)

Procedures

• Place metal beaker of isopentane in container of liquid nitogen.
• Label small pieces of popsicle sticks with mouse ids and add a drop of OCT
• Label ~5 cm² pieces of aluminum foil with the mouse IDs
• Rapidly dissect muscle and place on the drop of OCT. Drop the entire OCT/popsicle stick into the cold isopentane. They should stay together, but if they separate take it out and proceed to the next step
• Using tweezers carefully remove the frozen muscle/OCT/wood and flip over the tin foil so the mouse id is on the outsize
• Wrap up the tin foil loosely just to hold the tissue and place back in liquid nitrogen. When complete, take the tin foil out and place in a box and store at -80 until ready to section