Determination of reticular fibers in tissues fixed with sugarcane molasses

Abstract

Reticular fiber consists of one or more types of very thin and delicately woven type III collagen strands, which form a highly ordered cellular network and provide a supportive network. Since most of these collagen types are combined with carbohydrates, they react with silver stains and periodic acid-Schiff reagent, but are not shown by ordinary histological stains like those using hematoxylin. In this study, it was aimed to determine the reticular fibers in tissues fixed with sugarcane molasses and formol using silver staining technique (Gordon Sweet –GS-). The reticular fibers in the tissues fixed with sugarcane molasses were compared with those in the tissues fixed with formol. According to the findings, the staining quality of the liver and spleen tissues fixed with sugarcane molasses showed similar characteristics with the tissues fixed with formol. Very weak staining was observed in kidney and testicle tissues. The fact that the tissues fixed in the same fixation solution show different results in the Gordon Sweet (GS) staining method shows us that this issue needs to be supported by more detailed studies.