VERY viscous "water" immersion substitute

[Laevsky, Gary S.]

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Hi All,

Years ago we used something like Soave hair gel, or something similar, to maintain a tall meniscus for long periods of time (the index was very close to water).  It was also safe for the coatings, or so we thought at the time.

The oils with indices  close to water that are available now are not nearly viscous enough.

Does anybody know of any options?

Thanks.


Best,

Gary



Gary Laevsky, Ph.D.
Confocal Imaging Facility Manager
Dept. of Molecular Biology
Washington Rd.
Princeton University
Princeton, New Jersey, 08544-1014
(O) 609 258 5432
(C) 508 507 1310

[Martin Wessendorf-2]

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Dear Gary--

On 11/19/2013 4:08 PM, Laevsky, Gary S. wrote:

> Years ago we used something like Soave hair gel, or something similar, to maintain a tall meniscus for long periods of time (the index was very close to water).  It was also safe for the coatings, or so we thought at the time.
>
> The oils with indices  close to water that are available now are not nearly viscous enough.
>
> Does anybody know of any options?

There was a thread on this a few years ago.  Guy Cox had the last word
on it, figuratively and literally.  Here's the link:

http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0903&L=CONFOCALMICROSCOPY&P=R52373

Good luck!

Martin
--
Martin Wessendorf, Ph.D.                   office: [phone]
Assoc Prof, Dept Neuroscience                 lab: [phone]
University of Minnesota             Preferred FAX: [phone]
6-145 Jackson Hall, 321 Church St. SE    Dept Fax: [phone]
Minneapolis, MN  55455                    e-mail: [hidden email]

[Theresa Swayne]

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Hi Gary,

We have used ultrasound gel (which is probably repackaged KY, now that I think about it) but most often we use Genteal eye gel, 0.3% Hypromellose. For overnights we use a cut-off glove finger to stabilize larger amounts of the stuff around the top of the objective. It's still water-based, so it dries up after several hours if you use too little.

http://ecatalog.alcon.com/PI/GenTealSevere_us_en.pdf

Hope this helps,

Theresa

On Nov 19, 2013, at 5:08 PM, "Laevsky, Gary S." <[hidden email]> wrote:
>
> Years ago we used something like Soave hair gel, or something similar, to maintain a tall meniscus for long periods of time (the index was very close to water).  It was also safe for the coatings, or so we thought at the time.
>
> The oils with indices  close to water that are available now are not nearly viscous enough.
>
> Does anybody know of any options?
>

------------------------------------
Theresa C. Swayne, Ph.D.
Manager, Confocal and Specialized Microscopy Shared Resource
Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center, Columbia University
1130 Saint Nicholas Ave, 222A
New York, NY 10032

212-851-4613

[hidden email]
http://hiccc.columbia.edu/research/sharedresources/confocal