Qualitative assessment of Aloe vera as natural tissue fixative: An institutional study

The art of microscopy is only appreciable in well-fixed tissues. We conducted this study to determine the effectiveness of Aloe vera as a tissue fixative and compare its results with the natural fixatives already studied in the literature.

A pilot study was tried out using commercially available fresh chicken and fish with Aloe vera, and then after getting the promising results similar study protocol was carried out using 10-autopsied human tissue. Four natural fixatives-30% jaggery solution, 20% honey solution, 20% sugar solution, 20% Aloe vera solution and 10% formalin were used for fixation in the study. Fixation of tissues was carried out at room temperature for 24 h. All pre- and postfixation measurements were recorded using stereomicroscope and its software. The difference between pre-and postfixation was calculated and later, all pieces were kept for routine tissue processing followed by routine staining. The tissue sections were assessed for quality, and the whole procedure was blinded among three oral pathologists who scored them.

The mean percentage of shrinkage in each bit with different reagents was calculated. The shrinkage seen with 10% formalin and 20% Aloe vera were more likely similar. Among all the natural fixatives, qualitatively also Aloe vera excelled and its results were comparable to that of formalin.

The use of Aloe vera in the present study as fixative is the first of its kind, as exhaustive search of the literature shows only its use as transport media in dentistry.