Laboratory of Scientific Acupuncture and Infectious-Morphological Investigations (LACIIM), Institute of Biological and Health Sciences, Federal University of MatoGrosso, Barra do Garças, Brazil.
Anat Histol Embryol. 2022 Nov;51(6):740-745. doi: 10.1111/ahe.12852. Epub 2022 Aug 14.
Although formaldehyde is the most widely used and largely available fixative for preserving cadavers through decomposition prevention, it promotes darkening and weight gain, in addition to being considered carcinogenic. Ethyl alcohol has been proven a potential substitute to formaldehyde due to its effectiveness in tissue penetration, thus preventing proliferation of microorganisms; however, it can only be used alone for fixation of small parts. In view of such fixatives limitations, saturated salt solution has been widely employed based on its antimicrobial effect and ability to maintain tissue similar to the original one, in addition to exerting no hazardous effects as there is no evaporation of harmful substances. This research aimed to observe anatomical brain behaviour submitted to formaldehyde, alcohol, and saturated salt solution as fixatives. Fixatives were tested in 15 adult Wistar rats' brain, submerged in 10 ml of intended solution after removal for 4 weeks. Weight of the brains fixed in saturated salt did not change over the weeks. However, the weight of formaldehyde-fixed brains increased and the weight in alcohol-fixed brains decreased; in addition, modifications in all solutions measures were also observed. Alcohol provides a peculiar dehydrating effect as formaldehyde clearly increases the length of the pieces. Thus, since the saturated salt solution showed no important adjustment over the experimental time, it proved an efficient alternative for replacing formaldehyde and alcohol as fixative solutions of anatomical study of the brain.
尽管甲醛是最广泛使用和大量可用的固定剂，可通过防止分解来保存尸体，但它会导致组织变暗和增重，此外还被认为具有致癌性。乙醇已被证明是甲醛的潜在替代品，因为它在组织渗透方面有效，从而防止微生物的增殖；然而，由于没有有害物质的蒸发，它只能单独用于小部分的固定。鉴于这些固定剂的局限性，饱和盐溶液已被广泛应用，因为它具有抗菌作用和保持组织与原始组织相似的能力，而且没有危险。本研究旨在观察甲醛、酒精和饱和盐溶液作为固定剂对大脑解剖结构的影响。将 15 只成年 Wistar 大鼠的大脑浸泡在 10ml 各自的溶液中 4 周后取出进行测试。在几周内，固定在饱和盐溶液中的大脑重量没有变化。然而，固定在甲醛中的大脑重量增加，而固定在酒精中的大脑重量减少；此外，还观察到所有溶液的测量值都发生了变化。酒精具有独特的脱水作用，而甲醛明显增加了组织的长度。因此，由于饱和盐溶液在实验期间没有明显的调整，因此它是一种有效的替代甲醛和酒精作为大脑解剖研究固定剂的选择。
