Alwahaibi Nasar, Al Dhahli Buthaina, Al Issaei Halima, Al Wahaibi Loai, Al Sinawi Shadia
Biomedical Sciences Department, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, Sultan Qaboos University, Muscat, 123, Oman.
Pathology Department, Sultan Qaboos University Hospital, Sultan Qaboos University, Muscat, 123, Oman.
F1000Res. 2023 Nov 9;11:1014. doi: 10.12688/f1000research.122598.3. eCollection 2022.
In routine histopathology, 10% neutral buffered formalin (NBF) is the choice fixative. However, formalin is a human carcinogen, so there is a necessity for a safer alternative. To the best of our knowledge, neutral honey, not natural or artificial honey, has not been tested to fix histological samples. This study determined the effectiveness of neutral buffered honey and other types of fixatives to fix histological tissues. The study was conducted between July 2019 and August 2020 at Sultan Qaboos University, Oman. Sections from three rat livers, kidneys, and stomach tissues were fixed with 10% NBF, neutral buffered Sumer honey, neutral buffered date honey, formalin, Sumer honey, date honey, alcoholic formalin, alcoholic Sumer honey, and alcoholic date honey for 24 hours. Samples were stained with hematoxylin and eosin (H&E), special stains, and vimentin methods. Three expert biomedical scientists then evaluated the fixed and stained samples for the quality of all sections. The fixation ability of the different honey solutions was then compared to 10% NBF and the utility was determined using nuclear and cytoplasmic criteria, specificity, and intensity. H&E showed adequate staining in all groups compared to 10% NBF. The specificity and intensity of all groups for the Periodic acid-Schiff method were identical to 10% NBF except for Sumer honey and alcoholic date honey. Vimentin showed comparable findings with 10% NBF as there were no significant differences. The findings of this study encourage the use of honey, including neutral, as a possible safe substitute fixative for formalin, however, further experiments on larger specimens should be conducted.
在常规组织病理学中，10%中性缓冲福尔马林（NBF）是首选固定剂。然而，福尔马林是一种人类致癌物，因此有必要寻找更安全的替代品。据我们所知，中性蜂蜜，而非天然或人工蜂蜜，尚未被测试用于固定组织学样本。本研究确定了中性缓冲蜂蜜及其他类型固定剂对固定组织学组织的有效性。该研究于2019年7月至2020年8月在阿曼苏丹卡布斯大学进行。取自三只大鼠肝脏、肾脏和胃组织的切片分别用10% NBF、中性缓冲苏美尔蜂蜜、中性缓冲枣蜜、福尔马林、苏美尔蜂蜜、枣蜜、酒精福尔马林、酒精苏美尔蜂蜜和酒精枣蜜固定24小时。样本用苏木精和伊红（H&E）染色、特殊染色及波形蛋白方法处理。然后，三位生物医学专家科学家对所有切片的固定和染色样本质量进行评估。接着将不同蜂蜜溶液的固定能力与10% NBF进行比较，并根据细胞核和细胞质标准、特异性及强度来确定其效用。与10% NBF相比，H&E显示所有组均有充分染色。除苏美尔蜂蜜和酒精枣蜜外，所有组在过碘酸-希夫方法中的特异性和强度与10% NBF相同。波形蛋白显示与10% NBF有可比结果，因为无显著差异。本研究结果鼓励使用包括中性蜂蜜在内的蜂蜜作为福尔马林可能的安全替代固定剂，然而，应对更大样本进行进一步实验。
