Museum fluid collections preserve important biological specimens for study. Tissues are often fixed in 10% buffered formalin to halt metabolic activities and transferred to a solution of ethanol for long‐term storage. This process, however, forces water from the tissues and has been shown to alter the morphology of preserved specimens in ways that may influence the biological interpretation of results. The degree to which fluid preservation alters morphology is linked to multiple biological factors, such as tissue size and composition, and should therefore be examined prior to functional analysis. This study is undertaken as part of a more inclusive examination of mammalian volar morphology. A sample of five adult male and five adult female rats (Rattus norvegicus) was utilized to evaluate longitudinal changes in the dimensions of the volar pads across fixation in 10% buffered formalin and preservation in 70% ethanol for 1 year. No significant changes to the measured dimensions of the rat volar pads were present across stages of fixation and preservation, and no significant interactions of specimen size or sex were noted. These findings indicate that small mammalian volar pads that have been fixed in 10% buffered formalin and stored in 70% ethanol are appropriate for morphological study using the measurements described here without corrective algorithms. This finding is rare among preservation studies but highlights the variability of tissue behavior during chemical preservation and the necessity of preliminary investigations of preservation artifacts. Concurrence here between the preserved and unpreserved samples is likely related to the anhydrous nature of the volar pads and the supporting skeletal structure, and their confined position between major joints of the hands and feet.
Museum fluid collections preserve tissues from endangered and protected species for study. Tissues are often fixed in 10% buffered formalin to halt metabolic activities and transferred to a solution of ethanol for long term storage. This process, however, forces water from the tissues and has been shown to alter the morphology of preserved specimens in ways that may influence the biological interpretation of results. The degree to which fluid preservation alters morphology is linked to multiple biological and methodological factors and should therefore be examined prior to functional analysis. This study was conducted as part of an evaluation of mammalian volar pad morphology and comprises two analyses. In the first, a sample of rats (Rattus norvegicus) is utilized to evaluate longitudinal changes in the dimensions of the volar pads across fixation in 10% buffered formalin and preservation in 70% ethanol for one year. In the second, a cross‐sectional sample of fresh primate volar pads from varying species is compared to a corresponding sample from museum specimens fixed in 10% buffered formalin and preserved in 70% ethanol. No significant changes to the measured dimensions of the volar pads are present across stages of fixation and preservation, nor are significant differences evident between fresh and preserved specimen groups. These findings are likely related to the anhydrous nature of the volar fat pads and their confined position between major joints.Support or Funding InformationThis work was funded by NSF Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant #1128861.This abstract is from the Experimental Biology 2018 Meeting. There is no full text article associated with this abstract published in The FASEB Journal.
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