Histoheme

Developed to assist histologists with bloody specimens such as placental fragments, bone marrow biopsies, liver, spleen and endometrial curettings which tend to harden after processing and dry out. When set on ice, these tissues are prone to shatter and flake, leaving blood fragments on the work area, microtome, and water bath, and have a high potential to create extraneous tissue “floaters” on slides.

Histoheme is an ammonia based emollient that alleviates these problems and mess. Trimming into these blocks and soaking tissue in Histoheme allows technicians to cut clean, non-fragmented sections without stopping in-between each block to allow for better morphological staining.

Procedure
1. Trim blocks 10-20 microns.
2. Soak in small amounts of Histoheme. After use, dispose of used Histoheme to prevent cross-contamination with other samples.
3. Place block in microtome chuck and recut for 4-5 μm sections.

Histoheme does not have any effect on H&E staining or immunohistochemistry stains. The product is completely removed during the deparaffinization process.