Key result
Freeze drying of tissue blocks appears to be the method of choice for histological preparation of full-thickness ventricular dog myocardium biopsies to minimize artifacts.
Freeze drying is the preferred method for histological preparation of myocardial biopsies in dogs to minimize artifacts.
May inform preclinical canine myocardial histology protocols; leaves open optimal preparation for human biopsies.
Full-thickness biopsies of ventricular dog myocardium, beating and in arrest, have been studied by conventional fixation (immersion in fixative solution), by the use of cryostat sections thawed on slides, and by freeze drying of tissue blocks. Three types of artifacts were found and could be related (1) to cutting into the beating heart, (2) to thawing of frozen sections on slides, and (3) to the failure of fixative solutions to immobilize still reactive myocardium immediately. The method described yields a biopsy specimen of sufficient diameter to delineate the cutting artifacts. For histological preparation freeze drying appears to be the method of choice.
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Eckner et al. (1967) studied this question. Freeze drying of tissue blocks vs. Conventional fixation and cryostat sections was evaluated on Histological preparation artifacts. Freeze drying of tissue blocks appears to be the method of choice for histological preparation of full-thickness ventricular dog myocardium biopsies to minimize artifacts.
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