Cleaning slides

1. Clean slides in 3.5 M NaOH/50% ethanol for 2 hours with gentle rocking.

1a. Alternatively, clean slides in 2 M nitric acid for 0.5-2 hours with gentle rocking.

2. Rinse slides in ddH₂O for 5-15 minutes.

Coating

Poly-L-Lysine

3. Keep the slides in ddH₂O until coating.

4. Cover slides with 1:10 dilution of the Poly-L-Lysine in ddH₂O.

5. Rock gently at room temperature for 10-15 minutes.

6. Rinse with ddH₂O.

7. Dry by centrifugation (500 rpm) for 5 minutes.

8. Dry in speedvac (45 °C) for 5-10 minutes.

9. Store in dry, dust-free slide box.

See also Preparation of poly-L-lysine-coated slides.

Aminosilane

3a. Rinse slides with acetone.

4a. Cover slides with 1% 3-Aminopropyl(diethoxy)methylsilane in 95% acetone for 15 minutes.

5a. Rinse slides twice with acetone.

6a. Bake at 75 °C for 30 minutes.

7a. Cover slides with 0.5% 1,4-diphenylene-diisothiocyanate (PDC) in pyridine:anhydrous N,N-dimethylformamide (DFM) (1:9) for 2-4 hours.

8a. Rinse twice with methanol.

9a. Rinse twice with acetone.

10a. Store in dry, dust-free slide box.

11a. After printing inactivate PDC by covering slides with 1% ammonium hydroxide/0.1% SDS/200 mM NaCl.