CROSS-LINKING CHARACTERISTICS OF BIOLOGICAL TISSUES FIXED WITH MONOFUNCTIONAL OR MULTIFUNCTIONAL EPOXY COMPOUNDS

The cross-linking characteristics of biological tissues fixed by vario us epoxy compounds with different chemical structures (i.e. number of epoxide functional groups and backbone length) were investigated. Gene rally speaking, the tissues fixed with monofunctional fixatives were m ore pliable than those fixed with multifunctional fixatives. The fixat ion indices of the fixed tissues did not seem to be affected by the ch emical structures of the fixatives. However, the number of functional groups and backbone length of the fixatives did play an important role in influencing the denaturation temperatures of the fixed tissues. In general, the denaturation temperatures of the multifunctional fixed t issues were higher than those of the monofunctional fixed tissues. Amo ng the monofunctional fixed tissues, it was found that increasing the backbone length of the fixative decreased the denaturation temperature of the fixed tissue. This effect was present until the backbone lengt h of the fixative became large enough. (C) 1996 Elsevier Science Limit ed