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Improved Histological Procedure for Microscopic Demonstration of Related Changes in Fish Muscle Tissue Structure During Holding and Freezing
Author(s) -
BELLO RAFAEL A.,
LUFT JOHN H.,
PIGOTT GEORGE M.
Publication year - 1981
Publication title -
journal of food science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.772
H-Index - 150
eISSN - 1750-3841
pISSN - 0022-1147
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2621.1981.tb15337.x
Subject(s) - myofibril , muscle tissue , extracellular , anatomy , stain , staining , fixation (population genetics) , chemistry , infiltration (hvac) , pathology , biology , materials science , biochemistry , medicine , gene , composite material
ABSTRACT A simple and practical histological preparative procedure that causes minimum damage and distortion in the arrangement and organization of muscular tissue of fish was developed, which includes: fixation in Sanfelice fluid, dehydration in Cellosolve, infiltration in Parlodion, clearing in chloroform, infiltration and embedding in paraffin, sectioning (4–8 μm), and staining in a modified Massontrichrome stain. The procedure permitted the clear observation of muscle cells at the myofibrillar level. Sensible changes in the configuration and arrangement of the muscular tissue due to the rate of freezing and the postmortem condition, including spoilage, were clearly distinguished. Holding and spoilage progressively expanded the extracellular space at the expense of shrunken muscle cells and clumped myofibrils. Freezing also increased the extracellular space with cellular and myofibrillar compression between ice crystals. These alterations are diagnostic of prior tissue treatment and are easily obtained with simple histological methods.