1 reply to this topic

[ciliegia]

Hi,

I am looking for a safe protocol to dehydrate (and then dessicate) drosophila melanogaster in order to dissect out their eye tissue for biochemistry experiments. I've found an Acetone Dehydration but I am nor sure it is safe. Has anyone ever done something similar that can offer some advice, or perhaps suggest a protocol? Thank you!

Here is the protocol I have:
-put 70 mL acetone in a 125 mL Pyrex flask with 6 g anhydrous Na2SO4 and place the flask in liquid N2.
-swirl until the acetone has solidified, and add a few hundred flies
-put the flask in an explosion proof freezer at -20, and when it has warmed up to freezer temperature, stopper it.
-After 7-10 days, bring the flask to room temperature and keep tissue for further storage with a dessicator.

I'm worried about the "explosion-proof" freezer part. Is this dangerous?

Thanks a lot!

[mdfenko]

ciliegia, on Apr 15 2010, 09:23 PM, said:

I'm worried about the "explosion-proof" freezer part. Is this dangerous?

acetone is flammable and volatile, even below -20C. an explosion-proof freezer (and refrigerator) has all the mechanicals isolated outside of the box so that they won't ignite vapors inside of the box.