What is a vibrating microtome?
A vibrating microtome is a tissue slicer that cuts through samples using a high-frequency oscillating blade. You may hear of vibrating microtomes being referred to as “vibratomes.” Typically, these types of microtomes are used to cut softer tissues, either fixed or live/acute. Here are some advantages of using a vibrating microtome:
-
- Can help you make live tissue slices, such as acute mouse brain slices for patch-clamp electrophysiology
- You don’t have to freeze your tissue or process it in paraffin-wax
- No risk of lysing cell membranes because there is no freezing process
- Quick setup for cutting and clean up
Some disadvantages of vibrating microtomes include:
-
- Slower to cut than a cryostat or rotary microtome (this is because you need a slow cutting speed for making live tissue slices without damaging live cells)
- Sections can’t be as thinner than typically 10 µm