QUICKCHROME, multislide-maker for direct preparation of chorionic villi samples

Fetal Karyotyping by so called “direct method” using cytotrophoblast spontaneous metaphases from first trimester chorionic villus samples is widely used in the routine work of many prenatal diagnosis laboratories. The use of a direct procedure (with or without short incubation) is however not free from technical inconvenience due to the manual spreading of cells in setting up slides; metaphases are often broken with chromosome loss, the quality of banding is poor and the yield of suitable metaphases is low. To overcome these problems EuroClone designed Quickchrome, a multislide-maker. Quickchrome will increase the yield of analyzable metaphases and, in addition, will drastically reduce the time and the work-load. The equipment may accommodate 6 slides at once reducing the time in which the released cells are in contact with aqueous acetic-acid, so that its toxic effect on chromosome banding is reduced.