Staining Method for Whole-Body Autoradiography

Sagittal whole-body sections of frozen mice were cut on a hydraulicly driven microtome in a cryostat at--15 C by applying cotton or nylon-backed adhesive tape to the mouse before cutting. Section thickness was 20 mu. The sections, still adhering to the tape, were dried in the cryostat (-15C) under atmospheric pressure. After autoradiography, the sections were pressed to a glass slide spread with a mixture of albumin and glycerin. The slide was immersed in xylene at 30 C for 15 min. The tape was then removed from the slide, where the section remained to be stained with hematoxylin-eosin. The section thus obtained enabled the tissue histology to be related to the autoradiogram. This method may also be applied to histochemical studies of substances insoluble in xylene.