GELATIN INCREASES ADHERENCE OF POLYURETHANE VASCULAR GRAFTS TO GLASS SLIDES

Because polyurethane vascular grafts adhere poorly to glass slides, we investigated the effects of gelatin treatment of the specimen on slid e adhesion. Adhesion artifacts seen on glass slides pretreated with ge latin were compared to the number of artifacts seen with untreated gla ss slides, poly-L-lysine coated slides, and ChemMate slides. Pretreatm ent with gelatin diminished the number of major and minor artifacts se en on glass slides. Poly-L-lysine coated slides exhibited few major bu t many minor artifacts. ChemMate slides had the fewest number of major artifacts but had many minor artifacts, comparable to glass slides pr etreated with gelatin. There was no significant effect of tissue thick ness on the number of artifacts. Inclusion of gelatin in the water bat h is a cost-effective treatment to obtain satisfactory routine histolo gy of polyurethane specimens.