Light-polymerizing plastics as slide mounting media.

Currently available mounting media require solvent evaporation for hardening. This process is slow and often is complicated by the formation of air spaces under the coverslip. Light-polymerizing plastics are introduced as histologic mounting media that eliminate these problems because they harden quickly when exposed to ultraviolet light and, therefore, do not depend upon solvent evaporation. These light-polymerizing plastics are easy to use, permit rapid and controlled hardening, and eliminate the formation of air spaces under the coverslip. The optical characteristics are satisfactory for light and fluorescence microscopy.