General Troubleshooting

for the Quick-RayTM Manual Tissue Microarrayer

 

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1. Punching

 
Trouble Possible Causes Corrective Action
Cracking of donor block 1. Punching of hard tissue (e.g. calcified tissue, uterine leiomyomas) or use of hard paraffin for the donor block.
2. Penetration of the needle through the donor block cassette due to excessive pressure exertion during punching.
3. Swaying of the needle during tissue extraction from the donor block.
 1. Incubate the donor block for 5~10 minutes in a 37°C oven or incubator prior to punching.
2. Be cautious not to penetrate the donor block cassette with the needle during punching.
3. Allow only perpendicular motion of the Quick-Ray needle during punching.
Needle tip damage or wearing 1. Penetration of the needle through the donor block cassette due to excessive pressure exertion during punching.
2. Punching of hard tissue (e.g. calcified tissue, uterine leiomyomas)
 1. Avoid excessive pressure exertion during punching.
2. Incubate the donor block for 5~10 minutes in a 37°C oven or incubator prior to punching.
The height of tissue cores Punching deeper than 5mm may damage the donor block.
 The optimal height of tissue cores is 5mm
Cleaning Quick-Ray needle
   Wipe the paraffin residues with a dry gauze.
General precautions   Do not use Quick-Ray for punching of thick paper, wood or rubber - it may result in damage or wearing of the needle tip.

 

2. Arraying the tissue in the recipient block

 

Trouble Possible Causes Corrective Action
Sinking of tissue cores into the recipient block
 Full application of the plunger after close adhesion of the Quick-Ray needle to the recipient block hole
 Push the cores from behind the recipient block holes using a needle probe and adjust the core height
General precautions
1. Use the appropriate guide for 1 mm size TMA blocks
2. Press down the arrayed tissue cores with a flat surface, so that the core heights are the same.

 

3. Embedding of recipient block

 

Trouble Possible Causes Corrective Action
General precautions
Place the recipient block in the embedding mold (base mold) with the cutting surface facing down, and then incubate for 30 minutes in a 60°C oven.

 

4. Cutting

 

Trouble Possible Causes Corrective Action
Detachment of tissue core from TMA block while cutting
 Insufficient embedding time of the recipient block.
 Incubate for 2 hours at 37~40 °C oven.
Wrinkling of tissue slices Inadequate heating of the water bath Flatten any creases in cold water mixed with a small amount of alcohol, and increase the water bath temperature to 50 °C.

 

5. Staining

 

Trouble Possible Causes Corrective Action
Recipient block residues on stained slides
Residues of the recipient block may remain on stained slides. To eliminate the residues, insert the slides in boiling water for 1~2 minutes. However, the residues will not affect the staining, and are clear and invisible. Also, during immunohistochemistry, the antigen retrieval process (microwave or autoclave) will eliminate all residues.

 

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