Zenker's fixative is a rapid-acting fixative for animal tissues. It is employed to prepare specimens of animal or vegetable tissues for microscopic study. It provides excellent fixation of nuclear chromatin, connective tissue fibers and some cytoplasmic features, but does not preserve delicate cytoplasmic organelles such as mitochondria. Helly's fixative is preferable for traditional dye staining of mitochondria. Zenker's fixative permeabilises the plasma, but not the nuclear membrane. It can therefore be used to selectively stain mitotic cells (where the nuclear membrane has dissolved) with antibodies against chromatin[1]
Zenker's fixative contains mercuric chloride ("corrosive sublimate"), potassium dichromate, sodium sulfate, water, and acetic acid. Fixatives containing mercuric chloride or potassium dichromate are toxic, making disposal as hazardous waste costly. Mercuric chloride can be replaced with the same weight of less toxic zinc chloride, but the resulting "zinc-Zenker" may not give the same quality of fixation as the original mixture.
This fixative is named after Konrad Zenker, a German histologist, who died in 1894 (Baker 1958).
Before use, 5 ml glacial acetic acid is added to 100 ml of the solution. Both the stock solution and the complete Zenker fixative are stable for many years.
Helly's fixativeedit
If the glacial acetic acid is replaced by 5 ml of formalin (37–40% formaldehyde), the resulting solution is Helly's fixative, also sometimes called "formol-Zenker". Helly is stable for only a few hours because the formaldehyde and dichromate components react, producing formic acid and chromium(III) ions; the orange solution becomes greenish.
zenker, fixative, this, article, includes, list, general, references, lacks, sufficient, corresponding, inline, citations, please, help, improve, this, article, introducing, more, precise, citations, march, 2012, learn, when, remove, this, template, message, r. This article includes a list of general references but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations Please help to improve this article by introducing more precise citations March 2012 Learn how and when to remove this template message Zenker s fixative is a rapid acting fixative for animal tissues It is employed to prepare specimens of animal or vegetable tissues for microscopic study It provides excellent fixation of nuclear chromatin connective tissue fibers and some cytoplasmic features but does not preserve delicate cytoplasmic organelles such as mitochondria Helly s fixative is preferable for traditional dye staining of mitochondria Zenker s fixative permeabilises the plasma but not the nuclear membrane It can therefore be used to selectively stain mitotic cells where the nuclear membrane has dissolved with antibodies against chromatin 1 Zenker s fixative contains mercuric chloride corrosive sublimate potassium dichromate sodium sulfate water and acetic acid Fixatives containing mercuric chloride or potassium dichromate are toxic making disposal as hazardous waste costly Mercuric chloride can be replaced with the same weight of less toxic zinc chloride but the resulting zinc Zenker may not give the same quality of fixation as the original mixture This fixative is named after Konrad Zenker a German histologist who died in 1894 Baker 1958 Contents 1 Stock solution 1 1 Helly s fixative 2 See also 3 ReferencesStock solution editZenker is usually made with 50g of mercuric chloride 25g of potassium dichromate 10g of sodium sulfate decahydrate and distilled water to complete 1000 ml Before use 5 ml glacial acetic acid is added to 100 ml of the solution Both the stock solution and the complete Zenker fixative are stable for many years Helly s fixative edit If the glacial acetic acid is replaced by 5 ml of formalin 37 40 formaldehyde the resulting solution is Helly s fixative also sometimes called formol Zenker Helly is stable for only a few hours because the formaldehyde and dichromate components react producing formic acid and chromium III ions the orange solution becomes greenish See also editFixation histology Dorland s Medical DictionaryReferences edit Kim Hae Young Byrne Dennis Hwang Paul Thompson Sandra Collins Kitos Paul A February 1988 Perceiving mitosis in eukaryotic cells In Vitro Cellular amp Developmental Biology 24 2 100 107 doi 10 1007 BF02623886 PMID 3277936 S2CID 8615379 Barszcz CA 1976 Use of zinc chloride in Zenker type fixatives Histo Logic 6 87 1 Baker JR 1958 Principles of Biological Microtechnique London Methuen p 344 Gabe M 1976 Histological Techniques Transl E Blakith and A Kavoor Paris Masson Kiernan JA 2008 Histological and Histochemical Methods 4th ed Bloxham UK Scion p 40 41 Lillie RD amp Fullmer HM 1976 Histopathologic Technic and Practical Histochemistry 4th ed New York McGraw Hill p 54 57 www whonamedit com permanent dead link nbsp This chemistry related article is a stub You can help Wikipedia by expanding it vte Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Zenker 27s fixative amp oldid 1146966606, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
