Plasma and Serum
The following comments about plasma apply equally well to serum.
It makes no real difference what the source of the plasma is, since it is the proteins that function as the adhesive, and these are very similar regardless of the animal involved. Lipemic samples should be avoided and preference given to clear, lipid free plasma.
While it is usually freely available in a medical laboratory, please note that there is a serious hazard associated with using human plasma. Blood born diseases may be transmitted from plasma, including hepatitis and AIDS. Due to the difficulty of ensuring that a particular sample of plasma is free of infectious diseases, it is very strongly recommended that you do not use human plasma or serum at all. Animal plasma is not difficult to obtain. Try a microbiology laboratory that makes their own blood agar plates or obtain some bovine albumen from a blood bank.
Procedure
- Simply smear a tiny amount of the plasma over a clean, grease free microscope slide and pick up a section from the tissue flotation bath.
- Bake on as usual.
- After staining, the plasma should not be visible. If it is, then too much has been used.
