The Histological effects of microwave oven on bone decalcification using gooding and stewart fluid at varying temperatures and concentrations

Abstract

This study evaluates the histological preservation of bone tissue architecture at varying temperatures and concentrations of Gooding and Stewart (GS) decalcifying fluid as the preservation of tissue architecture depends on the quality and velocity of the decalcification processes. In the present study, a decalcification methodology was adopted using household microwave oven to induce the decalcification rate of rabbit compact bone sample for microscopic analysis. Bone biopsy was obtained from rabbit limb and fixed immediately for 24hrs in 10% formalin. Traditional decalcification was carried out at RT (Room Temperature) with 5%-GS as control while microwave oven decalcification was conducted with 5%-GS and 10%-GS at 30⁰C, 40⁰C and 50⁰C respectively. The results showed that 5%-GS and 10%-GS gave excellent histological architecture at 30⁰C while at 40⁰C, the histological architectures were comparable to RT decalcification. But at 50⁰C, bone tissue architecture was completely destroyed being ghost-like in appearance. Of particular interest is the fact that the bone tissue treated with 5%-GS irrespective of the temperature presented excellent tissue architecture than that of 10%-GS. Thus 5%-GS gave the best result in this study.

Key Words: Microwave Oven, Decalcification, Decalcifying fluid, Tissue architecture.