| Zenker's fixative | A rapid fixative consisting of mercuric chloride, potassium dichromate, sodium sulfate, glacial acetic acid, and water, useful for trichrome stains; must be washed to remove potassium dichromate and treated with iodine solution to remove mercuric chloride; tissues tend to become brittle if left in the fixative for more than 24 hours. (05 Mar 2000) |
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| fixative | 1. Serving to fix, bind, or make firm or stable. 2. A substance used for the preservation of gross and histologic specimens of tissue, or individual cells, usually by denaturing and precipitating or cross-linking the protein constituents. See: fluid, solution. (05 Mar 2000) |
| Flemming's fixative | A mixture of chromic acid, osmic acid, and acetic acid that makes an excellent cytoplasmic and chromosomal fixative, especially when acetic acid is omitted; disadvantages are that it penetrates poorly, requires lengthy washing, and deterioriates rapidly. (05 Mar 2000) |
| formaldehyde fixative | A widely used fixing agent for pathologic histology; the commercial solution is 37-40% formaldehyde and is known as 100% formalin or formol; a common impurity is formic acid, which must be neutralised or the fixative made in buffer solution; tissues fixed may have a pigment artifact precipitated. (05 Mar 2000) |
| formol-calcium fixative | A fixative for preservation of lipids. (05 Mar 2000) |
| formol-Muller fixative | Muller's fixative containing 2% commercial formalin. (05 Mar 2000) |
| formol-saline fixative | A general fixative for histologic and histochemical preparations. (05 Mar 2000) |
| formol-Zenker fixative | Zenker's fixative in which glacial acetic acid has been replaced by formalin. (05 Mar 2000) |
| Luft's potassium permanganate fixative | A fixative useful in electron microscopy for cytologic preservation of lipoprotein complexes in membranes and myelin, because of its oxidative properties. (05 Mar 2000) |