[Histonet] re" Perferred" fixative for animals

Carl Hobbs carl.hobbs <@t> kcl.ac.uk
Wed Sep 15 10:13:14 CDT 2004


In my opinion, to date, no other such fixing fluid exists......OK, I havn't 
tried any of the commercial preps but if they were superior to formalin 
we'd all be using it/them. I've gone thro' the range of standard fixing 
fluids and also such as "Perfix" and "Sera's" fluid. None of them are 
superior to Formalin regarding their preservation of antigenicity/ their 
capacity for antigen retrieval. Some are equal for particular antigens eg 
Perfix -fixed mouse tissue will demonstrate phosphoHistones beautifully but 
not any other Ag that I'm interested in, but  formalin - fixed tissue will 
also demonstrate them, after AR; it  will also allow for the demonstration 
of many, many other Ags in the same block. This applies to mouse, rat, 
dogfish, trout, fruitfly and chick, in my experience.
Why, may I ask, do you not wish to use Formalin/paraformaldehyde? 





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