Reasons to want to improve adherence:
(1) The material keeps coming off.
(2) There is limited material that cannot be replaced.
(3) Staining involves many sequential steps.
(4) Staining involves one or more chemicals that may reduce adhesion.
(5) The section or cells need to stay in a specific place on the slide.
(6) The release of material from a slide resulting in "floaters" must be minimized to avoid cross-contamination.
(7) The need for high quality sections that are optimally laid out without folds.
Improving adherence may involve:
(1) carefully cleaning the slides of any oil or debris (even precleaned slides may need to be cleaned again)
(2) using slides with an etched or roughened surface to improve adhesion (compared to smooth glass)
(3) application of a coating material
Slide coatings include:
(1) albumen (from egg white) or serum albumin
(2) chrome alum-gelatin
(3) polylysine
(4) silalinzation (with 3-aminopropyltriethoxy silane)
Problems associated with slide coatings:
(1) cost
(2) interaction with chemicals to increase background staining
