tips and tricks for cleaning objective lenses

[Pamela Young]

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I’m looking for tips and tricks for cleaning objective lenses and condensers.  I’ve got an 0.9NA air condenser that got lowered into a collagen gel and now has nasty dried goo on it.  Knowing the user, it was cleaned with ethanol properly after use, but it seems that it wasn’t cleaned well enough because there is a line of goo on one side of the lens that is being a booger and won’t come off the lens.  We spent 10 minutes with ethanol and a box of lens tissue, but that booger refuses to budge.  I really want to try acetone, but I’m nervous that the glue/cement will dissolve and the lens will fall off (as discussed in a previous post).  Any tips or tricks would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Pam

Dr Pamela A. Young | Light and Optical Microscopist
Australian Centre for Microscopy & Microanalysis

THE UNIVERSITY OF SYDNEY
Rm 116A, Madsen Building F09 | The University of Sydney | NSW | 2006 | Australia
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[weber]

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Normally you should find them there,

http://zeiss-campus.magnet.fsu.edu/articles/basics/care.html

regrads

[Josef Gotzmann]

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Dear Pamela,

Collagen gels are kept liquid by cooling - probably cleaning is easier when
you put the condenser lens in the fridge. Moreover, collagen should dissolve
in low concentrated weak acids, preferably acetic acid - that's how
lyophilisates are reconstituted - in appr. 0.02-01% HAc.

Josef

On Wed, 13 Aug 2014 07:44:19 +0000, Pamela Young
<[hidden email]> wrote:

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>*****
>
>I’m looking for tips and tricks for cleaning objective lenses and
condensers.  I’ve got an 0.9NA air condenser that got lowered into a
collagen gel and now has nasty dried goo on it.  Knowing the user, it was
cleaned with ethanol properly after use, but it seems that it wasn’t cleaned
well enough because there is a line of goo on one side of the lens that is
being a booger and won’t come off the lens.  We spent 10 minutes with
ethanol and a box of lens tissue, but that booger refuses to budge.  I
really want to try acetone, but I’m nervous that the glue/cement will
dissolve and the lens will fall off (as discussed in a previous post).  Any
tips or tricks would be appreciated.
>
>Thanks,
>Pam
>
>Dr Pamela A. Young | Light and Optical Microscopist
>Australian Centre for Microscopy & Microanalysis
>
>THE UNIVERSITY OF SYDNEY
>Rm 116A, Madsen Building F09 | The University of Sydney | NSW | 2006 |
Australia
>T [phone] | F [phone]
>E [hidden email]<mailto:[hidden email]> | W
http://sydney.edu.au/acmm
>
>Incorporating:
>Australian Microscopy & Microanalysis Research Facility (AMMRF) | W
http://www.ammrf.org.au<http://www.ammrf.org.au/>
>ARC Centre of Excellence for Design in Light Metals | W
http://www.arclightmetals.org.au<http://www.arclightmetals.org.au/>
>
>CRICOS 00026A
>This email plus any attachments to it are confidential. Any unauthorised
use is strictly prohibited. If you receive this email in error, please
delete it and any attachments.

[Glen MacDonald-2]

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Dear Pam
Collagen gel is aqueous.  Solvents will just dry it out.  Perhaps dampen it carefully with distilled water and patiently allow it to rehydrate.  You should be able to dislodge the sticky goo with lens tissue or cotton fibers.  

Good luck,
Glen MacDonald
        Core for Communication Research
Virginia Merrill Bloedel Hearing Research Center
        Cellular Morphology Core
Center on Human Development and Disability
Box 357923
University of Washington
Seattle, WA 98195-7923  USA
[phone]
[hidden email]







On Aug 13, 2014, at 12:44 AM, Pamela Young <[hidden email]> wrote:

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> *****
>
> I’m looking for tips and tricks for cleaning objective lenses and condensers.  I’ve got an 0.9NA air condenser that got lowered into a collagen gel and now has nasty dried goo on it.  Knowing the user, it was cleaned with ethanol properly after use, but it seems that it wasn’t cleaned well enough because there is a line of goo on one side of the lens that is being a booger and won’t come off the lens.  We spent 10 minutes with ethanol and a box of lens tissue, but that booger refuses to budge.  I really want to try acetone, but I’m nervous that the glue/cement will dissolve and the lens will fall off (as discussed in a previous post).  Any tips or tricks would be appreciated.
>
> Thanks,
> Pam
>
> Dr Pamela A. Young | Light and Optical Microscopist
> Australian Centre for Microscopy & Microanalysis
>
> THE UNIVERSITY OF SYDNEY
> Rm 116A, Madsen Building F09 | The University of Sydney | NSW | 2006 | Australia
> T [phone] | F [phone]
> E [hidden email]<mailto:[hidden email]> | W http://sydney.edu.au/acmm
>
> Incorporating:
> Australian Microscopy & Microanalysis Research Facility (AMMRF) | W http://www.ammrf.org.au<http://www.ammrf.org.au/>
> ARC Centre of Excellence for Design in Light Metals | W http://www.arclightmetals.org.au<http://www.arclightmetals.org.au/>
>
> CRICOS 00026A
> This email plus any attachments to it are confidential. Any unauthorised use is strictly prohibited. If you receive this email in error, please delete it and any attachments.

[Doube, Michael]

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> Collagen gel is aqueous.  Solvents will just dry it out.  Perhaps dampen it carefully with distilled water and patiently allow it to rehydrate.  You should be able to dislodge the sticky goo with lens tissue or cotton fibers.

A veterinary nurse once taught me that the best solvent for fresh and dried blood (on the white fur of little dogs, cats & bunnies...) is an isotonic IV solution / roughly, PBS (Hartmann's or Lactated Ringer's if you've got it). Maybe something a little salty might be better at hydrating your collagen, though risks introducing salty crystals or corrosion to your lens assembly, so a distilled water and maybe ethanol rinse would be required afterwards.

Michael


--
Dr Michael Doube
BPhil BVSc PhD MRCVS
Lecturer, Comparative Biomedical Sciences
The Royal Veterinary College, University of London
London NW1 0TU
United Kingdom

[phone] (Internal: 5503)

<http://www.rvc.ac.uk>

This message, together with any attachments, is intended for the stated addressee(s) only and may contain privileged or confidential information. Any views or opinions presented are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of the Royal Veterinary College.

[Ben Abrams]

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I second Glen's recommendation to try water.  I once had to clean a 40x from
a scope outside of my facility that was horribly gunked up.  After trying
Sparkle, EtOH, and other more harsh solvents with no luck I thought it was a
throw away.  But hot water did the trick.

Good luck,
Ben

[Pamela Young]

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Thank you all for thoughts!  I will try cold distilled water first and if
that doesn¹t work, warm distilled water, and then if that still doesn¹t
work, I will try some PBS (with ample cleaning afterward).


Dr Pamela A. Young
 | Light and Optical Microscopist
Australian Centre for Microscopy & Microanalysis

THE UNIVERSITY OF SYDNEY
Rm 116A, Madsen Building F09 | The University of Sydney | NSW | 2006 |
Australia
T [phone] | F [phone]
E [hidden email] | W http://sydney.edu.au/acmm

Incorporating:
Australian Microscopy & Microanalysis Research Facility (AMMRF) | W
http://www.ammrf.org.au <http://www.ammrf.org.au/>
ARC Centre of Excellence for Design in Light Metals | W
http://www.arclightmetals.org.au <http://www.arclightmetals.org.au/>

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This email plus any attachments to it are confidential. Any unauthorised
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On 14/08/2014 2:04 am, "Doube, Michael" <[hidden email]> wrote:

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>
>
>> Collagen gel is aqueous.  Solvents will just dry it out.  Perhaps
>>dampen it carefully with distilled water and patiently allow it to
>>rehydrate.  You should be able to dislodge the sticky goo with lens
>>tissue or cotton fibers.
>
>A veterinary nurse once taught me that the best solvent for fresh and
>dried blood (on the white fur of little dogs, cats & bunnies...) is an
>isotonic IV solution / roughly, PBS (Hartmann's or Lactated Ringer's if
>you've got it). Maybe something a little salty might be better at
>hydrating your collagen, though risks introducing salty crystals or
>corrosion to your lens assembly, so a distilled water and maybe ethanol
>rinse would be required afterwards.
>
>Michael
>
>
>--
>Dr Michael Doube
>BPhil BVSc PhD MRCVS
>Lecturer, Comparative Biomedical Sciences
>The Royal Veterinary College, University of London
>London NW1 0TU
>United Kingdom
>
>[phone] (Internal: 5503)
>
><http://www.rvc.ac.uk>
>
>This message, together with any attachments, is intended for the stated
>addressee(s) only and may contain privileged or confidential information.
>Any views or opinions presented are solely those of the author and do not
>necessarily represent those of the Royal Veterinary College.

[Iain Johnson]

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Adding some collagenase to the water would likely help. Labs doing histochemistry might well have a suitable preparation ready made. Or you can get it from Sigma for much less than the cost of a new objective.

Sent from my iPhone

On Aug 13, 2014, at 8:38 AM, Glen MacDonald <[hidden email]> wrote:

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> *****
>
> Dear Pam
> Collagen gel is aqueous.  Solvents will just dry it out.  Perhaps dampen it carefully with distilled water and patiently allow it to rehydrate.  You should be able to dislodge the sticky goo with lens tissue or cotton fibers.  
>
> Good luck,
> Glen MacDonald
>    Core for Communication Research
> Virginia Merrill Bloedel Hearing Research Center
>    Cellular Morphology Core
> Center on Human Development and Disability
> Box 357923
> University of Washington
> Seattle, WA 98195-7923  USA
> [phone]
> [hidden email]
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> On Aug 13, 2014, at 12:44 AM, Pamela Young <[hidden email]> wrote:
>
>> *****
>> To join, leave or search the confocal microscopy listserv, go to:
>> http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A0=confocalmicroscopy
>> Post images on http://www.imgur.com and include the link in your posting.
>> *****
>>
>> I’m looking for tips and tricks for cleaning objective lenses and condensers.  I’ve got an 0.9NA air condenser that got lowered into a collagen gel and now has nasty dried goo on it.  Knowing the user, it was cleaned with ethanol properly after use, but it seems that it wasn’t cleaned well enough because there is a line of goo on one side of the lens that is being a booger and won’t come off the lens.  We spent 10 minutes with ethanol and a box of lens tissue, but that booger refuses to budge.  I really want to try acetone, but I’m nervous that the glue/cement will dissolve and the lens will fall off (as discussed in a previous post).  Any tips or tricks would be appreciated.
>>
>> Thanks,
>> Pam
>>
>> Dr Pamela A. Young | Light and Optical Microscopist
>> Australian Centre for Microscopy & Microanalysis
>>
>> THE UNIVERSITY OF SYDNEY
>> Rm 116A, Madsen Building F09 | The University of Sydney | NSW | 2006 | Australia
>> T [phone] | F [phone]
>> E [hidden email]<mailto:[hidden email]> | W http://sydney.edu.au/acmm
>>
>> Incorporating:
>> Australian Microscopy & Microanalysis Research Facility (AMMRF) | W http://www.ammrf.org.au<http://www.ammrf.org.au/>
>> ARC Centre of Excellence for Design in Light Metals | W http://www.arclightmetals.org.au<http://www.arclightmetals.org.au/>
>>
>> CRICOS 00026A
>> This email plus any attachments to it are confidential. Any unauthorised use is strictly prohibited. If you receive this email in error, please delete it and any attachments.