In situ fixation of the spinal cord using microwave radiation

Due to its investiture with bone, the spinal cord can be difficult to study anatomically and histologically. Tissue degradation during immersion fixation or mechanical trauma during extraction of unfixed tissue often produces confusing artifacts. Perfusion fixation eliminates many of these problems, but it is a slow, tedious, and technically demanding procedure. This report demonstrates that microwave irradiation of the spinal cord before its removal from the spine is a rapid and easy method of tissue fixation with an absence of artifacts comparable to that with perfusion fixation.