Leica Biosystems PELORIS_PELORIS II - Manual (Page 61)

Protocol Setup
Leica PELORIS™ User Manual Rev K © Leica Biosystems Melbourne Pty Ltd 2011 61
Reagent Selection Methods Compared
When creating protocols decide which method best suits your processing needs and reagent
management strategy. Note, however, that xylene-free protocols cannot use group selection.
Xylene-free protocols use dehydrants for two different functions and group selection cannot
differentiate these.
Group selection ensures optimal reagent selection with minimal management. You get maximal use
from reagents and with the widest range of stations to select from scheduling conflicts are
minimized. You must however take some care when using group selection as the Peloris tissue
processor may use a reagent type you wished to reserve for a particular purpose. In these cases
use the type or station selection method or, for one-off instances, temporarily block a station by
setting its state to “In use” (see Setting Station States in 5.3.2 Setting Reagent Station Properties).
Type selection offers the same sorts of benefits as group selection – optimal selection of reagents
according to concentration, minimal reagent management, efficient reagent use, and minimal
scheduling conflicts. However, (provided there is more than one reagent type per group) the system
selects from a smaller range of stations, so the benefits are lessened. On the other hand you have
greater control over reagent selection.
Station selection gives you total control over reagent selection. However, as reagents degrade, you
need to rearrange bottles between protocols if you want to ensure the most suitable reagents are
used. This is a significant management burden that opens the possibility for errors. Also, the station
select method does not allow the instrument any flexibility when scheduling protocols and it will not
be able to recover from a processing error caused by unexpected reagent unavailability.
Station selection protocols are not recommended for overnight processing. If a reagent becomes
unavailable for any reason then the protocol cannot be completed.
When running station selection protocols always check the concentration of the assigned stations
before starting a run as the concentrations may not be correctly ordered if other protocols have
run.
Your decision about the reagent selection method must be made in combination with decisions
about how many, and which, reagent types you use, and the concentration thresholds to set for
these. Note that all the pre-defined protocols in the Peloris system use type selection but with
recommended bottle configurations that have the minimal number of reagent types (see 8.2.2 List
of Pre-defined Protocols and 8.3 Station Configurations). This combination provides a system that is
similar to group selection, with all the consequent benefits.
4.1.3 Pre-defined Protocols
Each Peloris system includes 11 pre-defined protocols – 1, 2, 4, 8 and 12 hour protocols for
standard and xylene-free processing, and a cleaning protocol (see 8.2.2 List of Pre-defined
Protocols). Access the pre-defined protocols from the Protocol selection screen by selecting New
and then selecting the Pre-defined icon.
The pre-defined protocols are designed for use with the bottle configurations described in 8.3
Station Configurations. Leica Microsystems has extensively tested the protocols and found they give
excellent results (in combination with proper reagent management and instrument maintenance).
However, users should validate all protocols, including the pre-defined protocols, for use in their
laboratories, where different conditions could give different outcomes.