Formalin Fixation at Low Temperature Better Preserves Nucleic Acid Integrity

INTRODUCTION. Fixation with formalin, a widely adopted procedure to preserve tissue samples, leads to extensive degradation of nucleic acids and thereby compromises procedures like microarray-based gene expression profiling. We hypothesized that RNA fragmentation is caused by activation of RNAses during the interval between formalin penetration and tissue fixation. To prevent RNAse activation, a series of tissue samples were kept under-vacuum at 4C until fixation and then fixed at 4C, for 24 hours, in formalin followed by 4 hours in ethanol 95%.

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Bussolati G, Annaratone L, Medico E, D'Armento G, Sapino A