Antigenicity is preserved with fixative solutions used in human gross anatomy: A mice brain immunohistochemistry study

Abstract

ABSTRACTBackgroundHistology remains the gold standard to assess human brain biology, so ex vivo studies using tissue from brain banks are standard practice in neuroscientific research. However, a larger number of specimens could be obtained from gross anatomy laboratories. These specimens are fixed with solutions appropriate for dissections, but whether they also preserve brain tissue antigenicity is unclear. Therefore, we perfused mice brains with solutions used for human body preservation to assess and compare the tissue quality and antigenicity of the main cell populations.Methods28 C57BL/6J mice were perfused with: 4% formaldehyde (FAS, N=9), salt-saturated solution (SSS, N=9), and alcohol-solution (AS, N=10). The brains were cut into 40μm sections for antigenicity analysis and were assessed by immunohistochemistry of four antigens: neuronal nuclei (NeuN), glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP-astrocytes), ionized calcium binding adaptor molecule1 (Iba1-microglia), and myelin proteolipid protein (PLP). We compared the fixatives according to multiple variables: perfusion quality, ease of manipulation, tissue quality, immunohistochemistry quality, and antigenicity preservation.ResultsThe perfusion quality was better using FAS and worse using AS. The manipulation was very poor in SSS brains. FAS and AS fixed brains showed higher tissue and immunohistochemistry quality than the SSS brains. All antigens were readily observed in every specimen, regardless of the fixative solution.ConclusionSolutions designed to preserve specimens for human gross anatomy dissections also preserve tissue antigenicity in different brain cells. This offers opportunities for the use of human brains fixed in gross anatomy laboratories to assess normal or pathological conditions.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENTNeuroscientists currently obtain tissue samples from brain banks. Alternatively, a much larger amount of tissue may be obtained from bodies donated to gross anatomy laboratories. However, they are preserved with different fixative solutions that are used for dissection purposes. We ignore if these solutions also preserve antigenicity of the main cell populations, essential in neuroscientific research. This work is the first to show that two solutions currently used in human gross anatomy laboratories preserve sufficient histological quality, in addition to preserve antigenicity of the main cell populations of the mice brain. This work opens the door to the use of human brain tissue obtained from anatomy laboratories in neuroscientific research.