Evaluation of Imidazole for Color Reactivation of Pathological Specimens of Domestic Animals

Formalin-fixed pathologic specimens were impregnated via two methods to evaluate color reactivation quality. 1. The classic S10 procedure and reaction-mixture or 2. The classic S10 procedure followed by a modified S10 process enhanced by adding one part imidazole to the classic reaction-mixture. To record specimen color and size, all specimens were photographed after fixation and again after plastination. Image ProPlus 4.2 software was used to analyze the images for color change and shrinkage. Lungs and kidneys treated with the imidazole additive in the reaction-mixture preserved the characteristics of lesions and the original color. However, statistically, neither group showed a significant difference for either parameter, color or shrinkage (p>0.05). The negligible difference of shrinkage was an important finding since shrinkage is often a byproduct of plastination. Plastination is an alternative method to preserve anatomopathologic specimens, particularly with the use of imidazole which yields little shrinkage and preserves original pathological color.