Tissue Acquisition and Preparation



I.         Tissue Acquisition and Preparation

Under anesthesia, the abdominal aorta, heart and one kidney are carefully removed from twelve rats per strain and placed in a labeled specimen cup containing approximately 75 mls of 10% Formaldehyde in phosphate buffer. The rostral end of the aorta is marked with suture to insure that the caudal end will be sectioned. The tissues are allowed to fix overnight at room temperature before they are handled. The following day, the tissues are examined and the heart and kidney are bisected before all three tissues are placed in labeled cassettes prior to automated processing. The rostral-caudal length of the hearts are measured and noted. They are then bisected at their mid-point to insure that sections will be taken from an anatomically consistent level. The kidneys are also bisected at the midsagittal plane to improve fixative penetration. The cassettes are returned to the 10% Formaldehyde solution and are held under house vacuum for a minimum of three days until they are ready to be loaded into the automatic tissue processor.

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