Effectiveness of different combinations of phenoxetol and formaldehyde on preservation of histological features in human cadaveric tissues.

BACKGROUND: Fixation preserves the tissues in a close to the life-like state by preventing its autolysis and putrefaction. Formalin has long been considered the close to ideal fixative for histological studies. With the awareness of occupational hazards, a few researchers have tried phenoxetol as a secondary preservative which offered comparable histological results to that of formalin. The adoption of phenoxetol as a non-toxic histological fixative of choice for staining purposes will require a process of validation; hence, the study aimed to see the suitability of different proportions of formalin and phenoxetol which can be used as a histological fixative.

METHODS: A few tissue sections (lip, ear lobe, muscle, vessels, and adipose tissue) were taken from a single cadaver before routine formalin-based embalming. The tissues were cut into smaller segments and fixed in 10% formalin, 1% phenoxetol, and in different proportions of 10% formalin and 1% phenoxetol. After the set time of fixation, tissue processing was carried out, and the slides were stained using hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) as well as special stains. The histological features of the tissues were assessed by two observers who were blinded to the fixation process.

RESULTS: Most of the tissues preserved in 1% phenoxetol stained sufficiently well compared to other fixatives (formalin, phenoxetol + formalin). As the study was done using a standardized protocol followed for 10% formalin, few combinations did not work well. Still, the tissues fixed in 1% phenoxetol gave excellent results.

CONCLUSION: We can conclude that for histological studies, 1% phenoxetol can be used as a short-term primary fixative.