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Updated: Mar 8, 2026
Simultaneous Cryosectioning of Multiple Rodent Brains
Published on: September 18, 2018
Experimental evaluation of freezing preparation for the macroscopic inspection in putrefied brain
Hideki Hyodoh1, Kotaro Matoba2, Manabu Murakami3
1Center for Cause of Death Investigation, Graduate School of Medicine, Hokkaido University, Japan.
Purpose:
To evaluate the usefulness of freezing preparation for macroscopic investigation in advanced putrefied brain.
Materials And Methods:
After sealing in individual plastic bags, 10 pig heads were stored at 20°C for 5days allow postmortem change (putrefaction) to progress. After an observation period, they were divided into 2 groups to evaluate the usefulness of the freezing effect in macroscopic investigation. The process over the postmortem period and the freezing process were examined.
Results:
At day-5, the presence of air density was detected between the inner surface of the cranium and the brain parenchyma. Intra-cranial air accumulation presented on CT in all heads. In the control group, the brain parenchyma leaked out from the hole in the meninges, and the gray-white matter difference was clear in 3/72 (4.2%), moderate in 7/72 (9.7%), ambiguous in 17/72 (23.6%), and poor in 45/72 (62.5%). In the freezing group, the brain parenchyma presented homogeneous low density after more than 14h freezing. On opening the cranium, the entire brains were frozen, and the gray-white matter difference was clear in 33/72 (46.0%), moderate in 17/72 (24.0%), ambiguous in 15/72 (21.0%), and poor in 7/72 (10.0%). The freezing group afforded greater clarity in the gray-white matter inspection (p<0.05).
Conclusion:
Freezing preparation was useful for the macroscopic investigation of putrefied brain compared with the ordinary autopsy.
