Araldite is classified as which type of solvent?

• A. Dehydrant
• B. Clearing
• C. Infiltration/embedding
• D. Dehydrant and clearing aka universal solvent

Answer: (C)

Araldite is an embedding medium. It’s an epoxy resin used to infiltrate tissue after dehydration and clearing, and then polymerize to form a solid block that can be sectioned very thinly for microscopy. It isn’t a dehydrant, which removes water, and it isn’t a clearing agent, which makes tissue soluble in resin; and it isn’t a universal solvent. The resin’s role is to permeate the tissue and harden, providing stability for precise microtomy.