A detailed analysis of the effects of various fixatives on animal tissue with particular reference to muscle tissue.

Nine different fixatives (Carnoy's, Susa, Baker's formalin, 5% formalin, 10% formalin, 10% formol saline, Bouin, Zenker, and 2.5% gluta-aldehyde) were compared by two methods. Gelatin-albumin gels were used to study volume changes after fixation and after various stages of subsequent processing. The appearance and hardness of the gels were also noted. The fixatives either shrunk or swelled the gels, but dehydration and clearing shrunk the gels in all cases. Samples of muscle tissue from one location in beef longissimus dorsi muscle were also placed in the different fixatives and processed. Various features were noted for each fixative, including the ease with which the paraffin wax blocks were cut and the staining ability of the sections in Mallory's triple stain. The diameters of the muscle fibers were measured from transverse sections of these samples and compared with the mean diameter of muscle fibers in a frozen unfixed section of muscle tissue. It was found that the fixatives had the same shrinkage effects on both the gels and the muscle samples. Analysis of variance tests showed that the various fixatives caused different degrees of shrinkage. Statistical details are given for the amounts of shrinkage caused by each fixative. Both the general histological picture and the amount of shrinkage were considered when deciding the best fixative. Carnoy was found to be the best of the fixatives investigated.

[1]  C. P. Mcmeekan.  Growth and development in the pig, with special reference to carcass quality characters. I , 1940, The Journal of Agricultural Science.

[2]  P. J. Meara.  Meat studies; post-natal growth and development of muscle, as exemplified by the gastrocnemius and psoas muscles of the rabbit. , 1947, The Onderstepoort journal of veterinary science and animal industry.

[3]  M. S. Bartlett,et al.  Fitting a Straight Line When Both Variables are Subject to Error , 1949 .

[4]  H. W. Beams,et al.  The microtomist's vade-mecum. , 1950 .

[5]  K. Ross.  Cell Shrinkage caused by Fixatives and Paraffin-wax Embedding in Ordinary Cytological Preparations , 1953 .

[6]  J. Baker.  Principles of biological microtechnique; a study of fixation and dyeing , 2011 .

[7]  G. Goldspink.  Fixation of Muscle , 1961, Nature.

[8]  H. Skjervold,et al.  Effect of one form of exercise on the body development in pigs. , 1963 .

[9]  S. Song,et al.  Orthogonal Diameters in the Analysis of Muscle Fibre Size and Form , 1963, Nature.

[10]  D. E. Goll,et al.  VARIABILITY OF MUSCLE FIBER SIZE IN BOVINE LONGISSIMUS DORSI. , 1965, Journal of animal science.

[11]  R. W. Bray,et al.  Fiber Arrangement and Micro‐Structure of Bovine Longissimus Dorsi Muscle , 1965 .

[12]  A. Chapman,et al.  Phenotypic and genetic associations between porcine muscle properties. , 1966, Journal of animal science.

[13]  P. English,et al.  The usefulness of muscle fibre diameter in studies of the lean meat content of pigs , 1966 .

[14]  W. Aherne,et al.  Quantitative methods in histology. , 1970, The Journal of medical laboratory technology.

[15]  P. Gouws,et al.  The influence of slaughter technique and histological treatment on muscle fibre diameter of low and high pH 1 pork muscle , 1972 .

[16]  G. Goldspink,et al.  A possible indicator muscle for the fibre content and growth characteristics of porcine muscle , 1973 .

[17]  G. Goldspink,et al.  Pre- and post-rigor fixation of muscle. , 1973, Journal of anatomy.