Formalin-Chloride Fixation to Improve Silver Impregnation of the Golgi Apparatus

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Abstract
The addition of a 1% concentration of alkaline earth or heavy metal chloride to a 15% neutral formalin solution was found to be much superior to a similar addition of nitrate. Of the 19 salts tried, BaCl2 and CoCl2 generally gave the best results with the tissues of Pheretima posthuma, Pila globosa, Rana tigrina, Cauia porcellus and Mus rattus. The CoCl2 fixative was found to work more successfully with shorter time for fixation and subsequent impregnation by silver, than da Fano's cobalt nitrate technique. The results obtained with BaCl2 fixative, were equally good and in some cases even excelled those obtained with Aoyama's CdCl2. Fixatives containing MgCl2 and ZnCl2 were satisfactory but the results were not so good as were those obtained with barium and cobalt chloride fixatives. Fixatives containing nitrates generally required longer periods for impregnation and reduction, than those containing chlorides.