Tissue fixation is used for several reasons, including prevention of putrefaction from bacteria, autolysis from enzyme degradation and loss of soluble substances. Most tissue fixation also helps enhance staining in later techniques like immunohistochemistry, if required and also routine haematoxylin and eosin staining.
Fixation preserves a sample of biological material (tissue or cells) as close to its natural state as possible in the process of preparing tissue for examination.
To achieve this, several conditions usually must be met.
Some of the more popular and traditional fixative solutions are shown below (click each line for details). Those chosen are simply representative of the major groups. Some of these reagents can be purchased from us ready-to-use.
