The case for perfusion fixation of large tissue samples for ultrastructural pathology

We present the case for the perfusion fixation of large, freshly isolated tissue samples of liver and lung from dog, rat, and mouse. Individual lobes of liver and lung were fixed by vascular perfusion using a technique that is simple and quick to perform and results in a reproducibly high standard of ultrastructural preservation compared to immersion fixation. A major advantage to the use of this technique lies in the ability to provide tissue samples for diagnostic ultrastructural pathology and toxicological pathology while avoiding the need for whole-organ or whole-body perfusion fixation. This advantage therefore permits the use of fresh tissue from the same organ for other investigative purposes (e.g., drug metabolism studies and pharmacokinetics), thereby allowing correlation of structure and function. The advantages of perfusion fixation compared to immersion fixation are discussed, and potential applications for tissue preparation of postmortem specimens and also for scanning electron microscopy are indicated.