Rosen Y, Ahuja S C
Am J Surg Pathol. 1977 Jun;1(2):179-81. doi: 10.1097/00000478-197706000-00011.
The inability of slowly frozen formalin-fixed tissues to reimbibe water normally on thawing accounts for the persistence of extracellular ice crystal spaces in such tissues and renders them useless for diagnostic microscopic examination. This phenomenon may be encountered by the surgical pathologist when tissues obtained for diagnosis are placed in formalin for fixation and the inadvertently frozen. The same type of ice crystal distortion was produced when formalin-fixed tissues were slowly frozen under laboratory conditions. The freezing artifact was not produced when formalin-fixed tissues were frozen in non-formalin-containing aqueous media.
缓慢冷冻的福尔马林固定组织在解冻时无法正常再吸收水分，这导致此类组织中细胞外冰晶间隙持续存在，使其无法用于诊断性显微镜检查。当为诊断而获取的组织置于福尔马林中固定并意外冷冻时，外科病理学家可能会遇到这种现象。在实验室条件下，福尔马林固定组织缓慢冷冻时会产生相同类型的冰晶变形。当福尔马林固定组织在不含福尔马林的水性介质中冷冻时，不会产生冷冻假象。
