Comparative Study of Two of the Main Conservation Techniques of Anatomical Pieces

Conserving anatomical pieces is of the upmost importance for both anatomy laboratories -because these are an essential learning tools - and natural history museums. In order to be used in theteaching process in optimal conditions, they must comply with several criteria: they must preserve as wellas possible living tissues characteristics, they must allow easy and low cost processing and maintenancetechniques, and be non-hazardous to the health of the individuals handling them. The present studyapproaches the formaldehyde and mummification conservation techniques, aiming to asses which of thembetter serve the desiderata previously mentioned. Researches were carried out in the ComparativeAnatomy Laboratory of the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine of Cluj-Napoca. Four formaldehyde preservedanatomical pieces and five mummified anatomical pieces were examined for this study. According to ourobtained results, we have determined that the mummification conservation technique yields more timeenduring products with lower sanitary risks, but requires meticulosity and cannot be used for all types ofanatomical pieces, while the formaldehyde conservation technique is more expeditive, can be applied toall anatomical structures, but does not offer the same durability in the case of educational pieces andrepresents a health risk factor in case of prolonged exposure.