A Compresstome® vibrating microtome is a tool for cutting small layers of matter.  It is comparable to a microtome, except it cuts tissue using a vibrating blade. The magnitude of the vibration, the frequency, and the direction of the blade may all be adjusted.

Tissue fragments, either fixed or fresh, are implanted in agarose at a low gelling temperature. The tissue-containing agarose block is then connected to a cube and sectioned while immersed in a liquid or buffer solution. Individual slices are then gathered and placed to slides for staining using a small brush.

Why should You use Vibrating Microtome?

Vibrating microtomes are now commonly utilized in clinical facilities to create incredibly thin sections of materials. Microtomes are classed into manual, automated, and semi-automatic based on the needs of the experiment and the proper application for slicing tissue. Even though there are many different types of microtomes, including vibrating, rotating, sledge, or laser beam, they all contain the same basic components: a microtome body, a knife attachment, a blade, and a material or tissue holding.

The knife stays fixed in most microtomes, and a segment is cut by moving the material container towards the cutting blade. The segment may be sliced both vertically or horizontally, and the innovative mechanism guarantees that no joints are missed. As a result, the material retainer pushes the microtome body the precise distance that specified scale.

Applications of Vibrating Microtomes

Neither freezing or embedding, the vibrating microtome precisely slices flesh under physiological circumstances. These precise tools preserve the tissue’s cell shape, enzyme function, and cell vitality.

The vibration microtome also allows scientists to slice fresh biological samples without extra processing, fixation, or freezing. Before the slicing technique, specimens must be medically fixed, implanted in oil, resin, or epoxy, or frozen in the chilling chamber. Other microtome types need tissue hardening by freezing cold or paraffin insertion.

Advantages of a Vibrating Microtome

  • Cell membranes are not fractured cytosol stays in cells.
  • With no corpus in the extrinsic tissue, stains appear sharper. Good for HRP, and so forth.
  • Can sustain cell life. While cutting, the flesh may be hydrated by the media.
  • Quickly attach tissue to the base. There is no requirement for encapsulation.
  • There is no need for specialized microtome blades.
  • Artifacts induced by wax embedding or freezing are less likely.
  • Reduced tissue autofluorescence as a result of avoiding formalin preservation and polymer embedding.
  • There is less time between tissue sample and immunolabelling.

To perform electrophysiological analysis of tissue, the slices containing basolateral amygdala and coronal brain sections are cut 400 μm thick using the vibrating microtome in ice-cold oxygenated artificial cerebrospinal fluid. In addition, the brains of anesthetized mice are decapitated, and a 400 μm thick coronal section is cut with a vibrating microtome to record the whole cell. In a different study where female mice brains were cut via vibrating microtome 400 μm thick in coronal sections through the nucleus accumbens and ventral tegmental area.

Conclusion

A vibrating microtome is a tissue slicer that cuts through samples using a high-frequency oscillating blade. Various studies, as listed above, have shown that vibrating microtomes are extremely useful tools for slicing biological materials accurately and efficiently with no requirement for additional processes. The tissues advance mechanism is placed inside a machined teflon cylinder which provides a smooth surface upon which the razor assembly is moved.

Fixed tissue may be sectioned uniformly at a thickness of 50 μm or more. This device has the advantages of portability, rapidity of sectioning, and inexpensive construction. These cutting tools are used efficiently without distorting and contaminating the tissue structure in rodent research, where precise slicing of the tissue matters the most.

Categories: General

Nicolas Desjardins

Hello everyone, I am the main writer for SIND Canada. I've been writing articles for more than 12 years and I like sharing my knowledge. I'm currently writing for many websites and newspapers. I always keep myself very informed to give you the best information. All my years as a computer scientist made me become an incredible researcher. You can contact me on our forum or by email at [email protected].