International Journal of Advanced Research and Development

Authors
Konzing L, Fatihu MY, Maurice AN, Otolorin GR

Abstract
Tissue shrinkage is one of the disadvantages of formalin-based fixatives. This study compares the use of 5% formol saline and 10% formalin as fixatives on bovine tissues to determine the level of tissue shrinkage. There was relative shrinkage in the bovine tissue sections fixed in 10% formalin, in the heart appeared as spaces between muscle fibre bundles, liver as wider sinusoidal spaces, spleen within red and white pulps, kidney as widened convoluted tubules, cerebellum as spaces between the granular and Purkinje cell layers. Similar tissues fixed in 5% formol saline did not show signs of shrinkage. Therefore, it is suggested that 5% formol saline could be a potential fixative in processing tissues for light microscopy. The finding of this research indicates that, 5% formol saline could have reduced the effects produced by 10% formalin concentration, while the fixative property was retained. However further studies are required using tissues from other animal species like poultry, laboratory animals like rats and mice.