The significance of the detection of oxidative and reducing tissue enzymes for questions of localization in the brain

Abstract

Histology of the nervous system is served, for the purpose of research, almost exclusively by stained slices from fixed objects. As fixing agents, mainly alcohol, formaldehyde and mixtures of chromium salts are used, which produce more or less fast clotting of tissue colloids, as a result of which the in vivo structure of cells with their processes is very much changed. To what extent our preparations give us the right to conclude about the living structure of cells and especially about the processes running or already running intra vitam is an old and much debated problem.