Morphological changes in striated muscle fibers caused by components of the Thiel embalming method.

Abstract

BACKGROUND

Thiel-fixed body donors are highly valued for surgical training courses. The pronounced flexibility of Thiel-fixed tissue has been postulated to be caused by histologically visible fragmentation of striated muscle. The aim of this study was to analyze whether a specific ingredient, pH, decay, or autolysis could cause this fragmentation in order to modulate the Thiel solution to adapt specimen flexibility specifically to the needs of different courses.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Striated muscle of the mouse was fixed for different time periods in formalin, Thiel solution, and its individual ingredients, and analysed by light microscopy. Further, pH-values of Thiel solution and its ingredients were measured. In addition, unfixed muscle tissue was histologically analyzed including Gram staining to investigate a relationship between autolysis, decomposition, and fragmentation.

RESULTS

Muscle fixed with Thiel solution for three months was slightly more fragmentated than muscle fixed for 1 day. Fragmentation was more pronounced after one year of immersion. Three individual salt ingredients showed slight fragmentation. Decay and autolysis had no effect on fragmentation, which occurred regardless of the pH of all solutions.

CONCLUSIONS

Fragmentation of Thiel-fixed muscle is dependent on fixation time and most likely occurs due to salts present in the Thiel solution. Adjustment of the salt composition in the Thiel solution with verification of the influence on the fixation effect, fragmentation and flexibility of the cadavers could be performed in further studies.