Student Presenter(s): Fatima Khwaja, Tarifa Adam, Adith Anugu, Anamika Rao, Katie Sandhovel
Faculty Mentor: Claude E. Gagna
Department: Biological and Chemical Sciences
School/College: College of Arts and Sciences, Long Island

The use of fixatives is very important in order to properly process tissues for microscopic investigations. Our group is the first to comparatively characterize bone tissue based on a variety of different chemical fixatives. Preliminary research was performed using cat femur bones, in order to properly learn how to use the microCT scanner (i.e., Burker SkyScan 1173), and its software (i.e., Dragonfly).

Our main research project involves the bones of birds, i.e., chickens. Their bones are significantly lighter in weight than those of mammals, and some of their bones are hollow and also act as part of their respiratory apparatus, namely, pneumatic bones. The chicken bones we used are either, pneumatic bones, i.e., skull, humerus, clavicle, keel, pelvic, girdle, and lumbar and sacral vertebrae, or medullary bones, i.e., leg bones, ribs, and shoulder blades.

A variety of different chemical fixatives were employed to preserve the overall morphology and histology of adult (i.e., 9 weeks) male chicken (i.e., Cornish X) medullary bone tissue (i.e., femur; average length: 4.5 inches). This was done in order to determine the specific effects of fixation on the overall bone’s morphology (e.g., bone cortex, epiphyseal growth plate, proximal metaphysis, and diaphysis). We have used eleven fixatives, i.e., 10% Neutral Buffered Formalin, Formalin-Alcohol-Acetic Acid (FAA), Zenker’s solution, Davidsons, Carnoy’s, Buffered Zinc Formalin, Bouin’s, Davidson’s, 70% ethanol, 91% ethanol.