Brain disection- help please

[J]

Soaked some brains overnight for dissection last week.
Brain soup!!!!
Is overnight too long??
J

[J]

Sorry, forgot to say I soaked them in metho

[RosalieM]

I wouldn't have thought so... I have soaked mine for a few days in the past I think (the type in a beaker, not the one in my head!)

[nickykinz]

When I ordered our brains from Dissection Connection they recommended 24 hours in 20% metho which is what I did. Seemed to work fine.

[J]

OK thank you.
I'll try again tomorrow.

[lada]

I have soak mine in 50% metho and it worked slightly. Teachers here cannot agree what they want. Some prefer ala natural, but some want the alcohol soak.
Lada

[J]

I have some soaking in 20% metho for period 3 today. Fingers crossed!!
J

[sunray18]

I have just had 3 classes dissect brains. I picked them up from the abattoirs this morning and put them into straight methylated the moment I got to work with them. Teachers loved them - they are more solid and easier to cut.

[J]

I don't know what I'm doing wrong.
The ones I had in 20% metho for 2 1/2 hours this morning were no different from just defrosting them. Not soup this time, but still pretty soft and smooshie.
J

[fibreweb]

I put mine in straight metho.

They went in on friday and were used today. Nicely firm enough to cut and see the parts.

[J]

I give up!
Oh well, won't have to worry about it again till next year.
J

[Jazz]

use plastic knife instead scalpels

[smiley]

Julie,

Maybe your sheep had less to think about!

[J]

Hmmmmmm I'm glad we only dissect sheep's brains! Imagine how smooshy some of the students' (not to mention teachers') brains would be!!
J

[mtg]

Can I soak brains in metho and then freeze for later use???? And what do you look at apart from the stem???

[nickykinz]

I was told to freeze them in shape (as sometimes the two halves can separate) and then put them in the metho while still partly frozen. They still usually fell apart!

[RosalieM]

I think the metho is just to help re-solidify them. Our teachers don't like it because it takes the colour out as well. They'd prefer it just squishy so after trialling it once (as a result of suggestions on here) I don't bother. They just get thawed in the fridge and then the kids do the dissection with mushy brains.

We can only get them frozen here... Do any of you get them fresh?

[mtg]

I've seen fresh in the supermarket but I was going to order them from the local butcher. So they'll be fresh. But I've found they go mushy and stink really quickly, so I was hoping the metho would firm them up and eliminate the smell.

[RosalieM]

our butchers can't even get them fresh!!

[JudyM]

I can only get them frozen as well.
I did try soaking them in metho once while they were still partially frozen with no luck. I'm guessing the defrosting process diluted the metho too much to make it effective.