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SYNOPSIS OF HISTOTECHNIQUES FOR AQUATIC ANIMALS
Citation:
Horowitz, D B., E. Peters, AND K. Price. SYNOPSIS OF HISTOTECHNIQUES FOR AQUATIC ANIMALS. Animal Tissue Processing Manual, Veterinary, Industry and Research Committee. National Society for Histotechnology, Bowie, MD.
Description:
This synopsis provides an overview of the necropsy, fixation, trimming, and processing of tissues from aquatic organisms for examination using light microscopy. The handling of animals, their tissues, uses of knives, and processing chemicals will be covered. Understanding the histology of these organisms is critical to studies of their physiology, reproduction, biochemistry, systematics, molecular biology/genetics, immunology, embryology, and ecology. Examination by light microscopy can be used to determine the presence or absence of pathological changes and to evaluate the health of an animal due to exposmes to contaminated materials or infectious agents. Such changes include morphological alterations, variations in the normal staining characteristics indicating changes in biochemical composition or degenerative processes, reactions to special histochemical or immunohistochemical stains, or changes in the rate of occurrence of featmes (e.g., mitotic figmes). General considerations are presented first, then recommended histotechniques are summarized for the major aquatic phyla. Specific protocols mentioned for each phylum are presented in a separate section. A brief bibliography is also provided.