Comparisons of a Formaline Substitution with Routine Chemical Fixatives on Cryosections

This study was designed to compare tissue preservation efficiency of formaldehyde substitution (FS) on cryosections with acetone (AC) and formaldehyde (FA). Brain, kidney, heart and liver had obtained from adult Dutch rabbit and were fixed with either FA or FS and AC prior to cryosectioning. Hematoxylin and eosin staining showed that AC is a poor fixative in preserving the general tissue and cellular organization. FS and to a lesser extent FA, produced significantly better results. All of cryosections were stained by hematoxylin and eosin and were studied by light microscopy. Results demonstrated that, overall, FS is the best fixative tested. However, FA fixation gave poor results in preserving neuronal tissues. Overall, the data suggest that AC fixation is unacceptable for preservation of most samples, whereas FA and FS fixation should be chosen according to the tissues and proteins to be studied.