Comparitive efficacies of a natural fixative with a conventional fixative

INTRODUCTION: The quest for formalin substitutes has long been going on due to its health hazards. Honey has been recognized as a safe substitute for formalin. However, we explored jaggery as a natural substitute for formalin. The aim of this study was to compare the tissue fixation abilities of jaggery syrup (30%) with that of 10% neutral-buffered formalin (NBF) and to determine the best fixative among both. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A study was conducted with 65 pathological tissues. Each specimen was divided into two equal parts. One part was fixed in 30% jaggery solution (Group A), while the other half was fixed in 10% NBF solution (Group B). 24 h tissue fixation was attained at room temperature followed by evaluation of pre- and post-fixation, tissue shrinkage, weight difference and ease of sectioning, followed by evaluation of conventional processing and staining. The histomorphological assessment for each slide was made based on evaluation of cellular outline, cytoplasmic details, nuclear details, staining quality and overall morphology under light microscopy. Each criterion was rated on a scale of 1–4. Nominal categorical data between the groups were compared using Chi-squared test. RESULTS: The preservation of tissue specimen by jaggery syrup was comparable to that of formalin and surprisingly overall nuclear detail of the tissue was better than conventional formalin fixative. CONCLUSION: Jaggery can be successfully adopted in routine histopathology laboratories in place of formalin.