CHAPTER 7 CHEMICAL FIXATIVES Flashcards
(e.g., Aldehydes)
Crosslinking Fixatives
act by creating covalent chemical bonds between proteins in tissue.
Crosslinking Fixatives
This anchors soluble proteins to the cytoskeleton, and lends additional rigidity to the tissue.
Crosslinking Fixatives
(e.g., alcoholic fixatives)
Precipitating (or denaturing) fixatives
act by reducing the solubility of protein molecules and (often) by disrupting the hydrophobic interactions that give many proteins their tertiary structure.
Precipitating (or denaturing) fixatives
The precipitation and aggregation of proteins is a very different process from the crosslinking that occurs with the aldehyde fixatives.
Precipitating (or denaturing) fixatives
formaldehyde
most commonly used fixative in histology
formaldehyde
fixes the tissues by forming cross-linkages in the proteins, particularly between lysine residues; good for immunohistochemical techniques
formaldehyde
The standard solution is [?] neutral buffered formalin or approximately [?] formaldehyde in phosphate- buffered saline.
10%
3.7%-4.0%
is a gas produced by the oxidation of methyl alcohol, and is soluble in water to the extent of 37-40% weight in volume.
Formaldehyde
Pure stock solution of [?] is unsatisfactory for routine fixation since high concentrations of formaldehyde tend to over-harden the outer layer of the tissue and affect staining adversely.
40% formalin
is made with formaldehyde but the percentage denotes a different formaldehyde concentration.
Formalin
The most widely used fixative for routine histology is [?]
10% neutral buffered formalin (NBF, approximately 4% formaldehyde), buffered to pH 7 with phosphate buffer.
This fixative can effectively prevent autolysis and provide excellent preservation of tissue and cellular morphology.
10% neutral buffered formalin (NBF, approximately 4% formaldehyde)
It is considered the fixative of choice for many other procedures that require paraffin embedding, including immunohistochemistry and interphase Fluorescent In-Situ Hybridization (FISH).
10% neutral buffered formalin (NBF, approximately 4% formaldehyde)
FORMULA:
40% formaldehyde: 100 ml
Distilled water: 900 ml
Sodium dihydrogen phosphate monohydrate: 4 gm
Disodium hydrogen phosphate anhydrous 6.5 gm
10% Formal-Saline
The solution should have a pH of 6.8
10% Formal-Saline
Fixation time: 12 – 24 hours
10% Formal-Saline
Alcoholic formalin
- It penetrates and fixes tissues evenly.
10% Formal-Saline
- It preserves microanatomic and cytologic details with minimum shrinkage and distortion.
10% Formal-Saline
- Large specimens may be fixed for a long time provided that the solution is changed every three months.
10% Formal-Saline
- It preserves enzymes and nucleoproteins.
10% Formal-Saline
- It demonstrates fats and mucin.
10% Formal-Saline
- It does not over-harden tissues, thereby facilitating dissection of the specimen.
10% Formal-Saline
- It is ideal for most staining techniques, including silver
impregnation.
10% Formal-Saline
- It allows natural tissue color to be restored upon immersion in 70% alcohol.
10% Formal-Saline
- It is a slow fixative. The period of fixation is required to be 24 hours or longer.
10% Formal-Saline
fixed tissues tend to shrink during alcohol dehydration; this may be reduced by secondary fixation.
10% Formal-Saline
- Metachromatic reaction of amyloid is reduced.
10% Formal-Saline
- Acid dye stains less brightly than when fixed with mercuric chloride.
10% Formal-Saline
- It is cheap, readily available, easy to prepare, and relatively stable, especially if stored in buffered solution.
Formalin
- It is compatible with many stains, and therefore can be used with various staining techniques depending upon the need of the tissues.
Formalin
- It does not over-harden tissues, even with prolonged periods of fixation, as long as solutions are regularly changed.
Formalin
- It penetrates tissues well.
Formalin
- It preserves fat and mucin, making them resistant to subsequent treatment with fat solvents, and allowing them to be stained for demonstration.
Formalin
- It preserves glycogen.
Formalin
- It preserves but does not precipitate proteins, thereby allowing tissue enzymes to be studied. It does not make tissues brittle, and is therefore recommended for nervous tissue preservation.
Formalin
- It allows natural tissue colors to be restored after fixation by immersing formalin-fixed tissues in 70% alcohol for one hour, and is therefore recommended for colored tissue photography.
Formalin
- It allows frozen tissue sections to be prepared easily.
Formalin
- It does not require washing out, unless tissues have stayed in formalin for excessively long periods of time.
Formalin
- Fumes are irritating to the nose and eyes and may cause sinusitis, allergic rhinitis, or excessive lacrimation.
Formalin
- The solution is irritating to the skin and may cause allergic dermatitis on prolonged contact.
Formalin
- It may produce considerable shrinkage of tissues.
Formalin
Carnoy’s Fixative
- It is a soft fixative and does not harden some cytoplasmic structures adequately enough for paraffin embedding.
Formalin
Reduces both basophilic and eosinophilic staining of cells, thereby reducing the quality of routine cytologic staining.
Formalin
Acidity of formic acid may, however, be used to an advantage when applying the silver impregnation technique of staining.
Formalin
It forms abundant brown pigment granules on blood-containing tissues, e.g., spleen, due to blackening of hemoglobin.
Formalin
Prolonged fixation may produce:
a. Bleaching of the specimen and loss of natural tissue colors.
b. Dispersal of fat from the tissue into the fluid.
c. Dissolution or loss of glycogen, and urate crystals
Formalin
solutions were devised as alternatives to mercuric chloride
formulations.
Zinc formalin (unbuffered)
FORMULA: Sat. Aq. Mercuric chloride 90 ml. Formaldehyde 40% 10 ml.
Formol-Corrosive (Formol-Sublimate)
Fixation time: 3-24 hours
Formol-Corrosive (Formol-Sublimate)
is recommended for routine post-mortem tissues.
Formol-mercuric chloride solution
- It penetrates small pieces of tissues rapidly.
Formol-Corrosive (Formol-Sublimate)
- It produces minimum shrinkage and hardening.
Formol-Corrosive (Formol-Sublimate)
- It is excellent for many staining procedures including silver reticulum methods.
Formol-Corrosive (Formol-Sublimate)
- It brightens cytoplasmic and metachromatic stains better than with formalin alone.
Formol-Corrosive (Formol-Sublimate)
- Cytological structures and blood cells are well preserved.
Formol-Corrosive (Formol-Sublimate)
- It fixes lipids, especially neutral fats and phospholipids.
Formol-Corrosive (Formol-Sublimate)
- Penetration is slow; hence, tissue sections should not be more than 1 cm thick.
Formol-Corrosive (Formol-Sublimate)
- It forms mercuric chloride deposits.
Formol-Corrosive (Formol-Sublimate)
- It does not allow frozen tissue sections to be made.
Formol-Corrosive (Formol-Sublimate)
- It inhibits the determination of the extent of tissue decalcification.
Formol-Corrosive (Formol-Sublimate)
is a polymerized form of formaldehyde, usually obtained as a fine white powder, which depolymerizes back to formalin when heated.
Paraformaldehyde
It is suitable for paraffin embedding and sectioning, and also for immunocytochemical analysis.
Paraformaldehyde
fixed samples can also be stained for general histology but the degree of fixation is less vigorous than Bouin’s so the quality of the morphology obtained will be less.
Paraformaldehyde
This fixative allows for subsequent immuno-detection of certain antigens and should therefore be used when the objective is to study morphology and protein expression simultaneously.
Paraformaldehyde
Its effects are reversible by excess water and it avoids formalin pigmentation.
Paraformaldehyde
Other benefits include: Long term storage and good tissue penetration.
Paraformaldehyde
is a mixture of paraformaldehyde and glutaral-dehyde.
Karnovsky’s Fixative (4% Paraformaldehyde-1% Glutaraldehyde in 0.1M Phosphate Buffer)
It is suitable for use when preparing samples for light microscopy in resin embedding and sectioning, and for electron microscopy.
Karnovsky’s Fixative (4% Paraformaldehyde-1% Glutaraldehyde in 0.1M Phosphate Buffer)
This fixative should always be prepared fresh.
Karnovsky’s Fixative (4% Paraformaldehyde-1% Glutaraldehyde in 0.1M Phosphate Buffer)
- It has a more stable effect on tissues, giving a firmer texture with better tissue sections, especially of central nervous tissues.
Glutaraldehyde
- It preserves plasma proteins better.
Glutaraldehyde
- It produces less tissue shrinkage.
Glutaraldehyde
- It preserves cellular structures better; hence, is recommended for electron microscopy.
Glutaraldehyde
- It is more pleasant and less irritating to the nose.
Glutaraldehyde
- It does not cause dermatitis.
Glutaraldehyde
- It is more expensive.
Glutaraldehyde
- It is less stable.
Glutaraldehyde
- It penetrates tissues more slowly.
Glutaraldehyde
- It tends to make tissue (i.e. renal biopsy) more brittle.
Glutaraldehyde
- It reduces PAS positivity of reactive mucin.
Glutaraldehyde
This may be prevented by immersing glutaraldehyde-fixed tissues in a mixture of
concentrated glacial acetic acid and aniline oil.
- The specimen vial must be kept refrigerated during the fixation process.
Glutaraldehyde
- Solution may be changed several times during fixation by swirling the vials to make sure that the specimen is in contact with fresh solution all the time.
Glutaraldehyde
- It is excellent for fixing dry and wet smears, blood smears and bone marrow tissues.
Methyl Alcohol 100%
- It fixes and dehydrates at the same time.
Methyl Alcohol 100%
- Penetration is slow.
Methyl Alcohol 100%
- If left in fixative for more than 48 hours, t issues may be over hardened and difficult to cut.
Methyl Alcohol 100%
- is used for fixing touch preparations , although some touch preparations are air dried and not fixed, for certain special staining procedures such as Wright-Giemsa.
Isopropyl Alcohol 95%
is used at concentrations of 70-100%. If the lower concentrations are used, the RBC’s become hemolyzed and WBC’s are inadequately preserved.
Ethyl Alcohol
It may be used as a simple fixative.
Ethyl Alcohol
It is, however, more frequently incorporated into compound fixatives for better results.
Ethyl Alcohol
Fixation Time: 18-24 hours
Ethyl Alcohol
- It preserves but does not fix glycogen.
Ethyl Alcohol
- It fixes blood, tissue films and smears.
Ethyl Alcohol
- It preserves nucleoproteins and nucleic acids, hence, is used for histochemistry, especially for enzyme studies.
Ethyl Alcohol
Carnoy’s Fixative
- It fixes tissue pigments fairly well.
Ethyl Alcohol
- It is ideal for small tissue fragments.
Ethyl Alcohol
- Hemosiderin preservation is less than in buffered formaldehyde.
Ethyl Alcohol
- It is a strong reducing agent; hence, should not be mixed with chromic acid, potassium dichromate and osmium tetroxide which are strong oxidizing agents.
Ethyl Alcohol
- Lower concentrations (70-80%) will cause RBC hemolysis and inadequately preserve leukocytes.
Ethyl Alcohol
- It dissolves fats and lipids, as a general rule. Alcohol-containing fixatives are contraindicated when lipids are to be studied.
Ethyl Alcohol
- It causes glycogen granules to move towards the poles or ends of the cells (polarization).
Ethyl Alcohol
- Tissue left in alcohol too long will shrink, making it difficult or impossible to cut.
Ethyl Alcohol
- It causes polarization of glycogen granules.
Ethyl Alcohol
- It produces considerable hardening and shrinkage of tissues.
Ethyl Alcohol
FORMULA:
Absolute alcohol 60 ml.
Chloroform 30 ml.
Glacial acetic acid 10 ml.
Carnoy’s Fixative
Fixation Time: 1-3 hours
Carnoy’s Fixative
It is considered to be the most rapid fixative and may be used for urgent biopsy specimens for paraffin processing within 5 hours.
Carnoy’s Fixative
It fixes and dehydrates at the same time.
Carnoy’s Fixative
Methyl Alcohol 100%
- It permits good nuclear staining and differentiation.
Carnoy’s Fixative
- It preserves Nissl granules and cytoplasmic granules well.
Carnoy’s Fixative
- It preserves nucleoproteins and nucleic acids.
Carnoy’s Fixative
Methyl Alcohol 100%
- It is an excellent fixative for glycogen since aqueous solutions are avoided.
Carnoy’s Fixative
- It is very suitable for small tissue fragments such as curettings and biopsy materials.
Carnoy’s Fixative
Ideal: Ethyl Alcohol
- Following fixation for one hour, tissues may be transferred directly to absolute alcohol-chloroform mixture, thereby shortening processing time.
Carnoy’s Fixative
- It is also used to fix brain tissue for the diagnosis of rabies.
Carnoy’s Fixative
- It produces RBC hemolysis, dissolves lipids and can produce excessive hardening and shrinkage.
Carnoy’s Fixative; Isopropyl Alcohol 95%
considerable: Ethyl Alcohol
- It causes considerable tissue shrinkage.
Carnoy’s Fixative
- It is suitable only for small pieces of tissues due to slow penetration.
Carnoy’s Fixative
- It tends to harden tissues excessively and distorts tissue morphology.
Carnoy’s Fixative
- It dissolves fat, lipids, and myelin.
Carnoy’s Fixative : myelin
Ethyl Alcohol
- It leads to polarization unless very cold temperatures (-70°C) are used.
Carnoy’s Fixative
- It dissolves acid-soluble cell granules and pigments.
Carnoy’s Fixative
Fixation time: 3 - 4 hours
Clarke’s solution
Fixation time: 12 – 24 hours
Alcoholic formalin
This is a simple microanatomical fixative made up of saturated
formaldehyde (40%, by weight volume) diluted to 10% with sodium chloride.
10% Formal-Saline
This mixture of formaldehyde in isotonic saline was widely used for routine histopathology prior to the introduction of phosphate buffered formalin.
10% Formal-Saline
It is recommended for fixation of central nervous tissues and general post-mortem tissues for histochemical examination.
10% Formal-Saline
It is also recommended for the preservation of lipids, especially phospholipids.
10% Formal-Saline
The buffer tends to prevent the formation of formalin pigment.
10% Formal-Saline
Many epitopes require antigen retrieval for successful immunohistochemical (IHC) staining procedure following its use.
10% Formal-Saline
Most pathologists feel comfortable interpreting the morphology produced with this type of fixative.
10% Formal-Saline
It often produces formalin pigment.
10% Formal-Saline
solutions were devised as alternatives to mercuric chloride formulations.
Zinc formalin
They are said to give improved results with immunohistochemistry.
Zinc formalin (unbuffered)
There are a number of alternative formulas available some of which contain zinc chloride which is thought to be slightly more corrosive than zinc sulphate.
Zinc formalin (unbuffered)
has been used on frozen sections and smears.
Clarke’s solution
It can produce fair results after conventional processing if fixation time is kept very short.
Clarke’s solution
It preserves nucleic acids but extracts lipids.
Clarke’s solution
Tissues can be transferred directly into 95% ethanol.
Clarke’s solution
primary fixation specimens: Alcoholic formalin, Formol-acetic alcohol
combines a denaturing fixative with the additive and cross-linking effects of formalin.
Alcoholic formalin
It is sometimes used during processing to complete fixation following incomplete primary formalin fixation.
Alcoholic formalin
It can be used for fixation or post-fixation of large fatty specimens (particularly breast), because it will allow lymph nodes to be more easily detected as it clears and extracts lipids.
Alcoholic formalin
If used for primary fixation specimens, it can be placed directly into 95% ethanol for processing.
Alcoholic formalin
Formol-acetic alcohol
Fixation time: 1 - 6 hours
Formol-acetic alcohol
alcohol is a faster acting agent than alcoholic formalin due to the presence of acetic acid that can also produce formalin pigment.
Formol-acetic alcohol
It is sometimes used to fix diagnostic cryostat sections.
Formol-acetic alcohol
If used for primary fixation, the specimens can be placed directly into 95% ethanol for processing.
Alcoholic formalin
Formol-acetic alcohol
Post-fixation with phenol-formalin for 6 hours or more can enhance immunoperoxidase studies on the tissues, and in some cases, electron microscopy, if it is necessary at a later time to establish a diagnosis.
Gendre’s Fixative
- Fixation is faster (fixation time is reduced to one-half).
Gendre’s Fixative
- It can be used for rapid diagnosis because it fixes and dehydrates at the same time, e.g., in the frozen section room.
Gendre’s Fixative
Methyl Alcohol 100% ; Carnoy’s Fixative
- It is good for preservation of glycogen and for micro-incineration technique (the burning of a minute tissue specimen for identification of mineral elements from the ashes).
Gendre’s Fixative
- It is used to fix sputum, since it coagulates mucus.
Gendre’s Fixative
- It produces gross hardening of tissues.
Gendre’s Fixative
- It causes partial lysis of RBC.
Gendre’s Fixative
- Preservation of iron-containing pigments is poor.
Gendre’s Fixative
- Formaldehyde does not give as good a morphological picture as glutaraldehyde.
Gendre’s Fixative
- Formaldehyde causes little cross-linking under usual fixation conditions where low concentrations of proteins are used, while glutaraldehyde is most effective at cross-linking.
Gendre’s Fixative
Fixation time: 12-18 hours at 3°C
Newcomer’s Fluid