Original scientific paper
https://doi.org/10.24141/1/6/1/1
Comparison of two commercial fixatives for application in routine histology analysis
Ljerka Armano
orcid.org/0000-0002-0267-3167
; University Clinical Hospital Center
Romana Gračan
orcid.org/0000-0002-7680-1993
; University of Zagreb, Faculty of Science, Department of Biology, Zagreb, Croatia
Abstract
Tissue fixation is a very important step when preparing tissue for permanent histological samples. The purpose of fixation is to preserve cells and extracellular structures to resemble living material as much as possible. In this study we analysed morphological characteristics of major internal organs of the brown trout (Salmo trutta L.), after fixation with two different fixatives: 10% neutral buffered formaldehyde (NBF), which produces highquality histological samples, but is toxic and carcinogen and FineFix (FF) ethanol-based substitution for NBF with reduced toxicity. For proper comparison ofstudied fixatives , tissue samples were fixed, embedded in paraplast, sectioned and stained with routine hemalaun eosin (HE) technique and histochemical staining method for Periodic Acid – Schiff’s reaction combined with alcian blue. Based on the analysis of the tissue samples from the digestive, respiratory and circulatory system of the brown trout our results show that NBF is a better choice of fixation for histological and histochemical analyses. The major difference between the two fixatives is the quality of connective tissue in the studied organs, which is better in NBF fixed tissues compared to FF, while FF stands out as better when staining digestive system organs with HE. Therefore, if using NBF, certain sensitive tissues, such as the digestive organs, may require modification of standard staining procedures, and in particular the HE method, to provide better tissue affinity for color and thus better recognition of tissue morphological structures, while search for adequate non-formaline fixative still continues.
Keywords
fixative; formalin; formaldehyde; FineFIX; histology
Hrčak ID:
234999
URI
Publication date:
4.3.2020.
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