Use of a Polyguanidine Solution for Fixing Biological and Anatomical Specimens

A new method of fixing biological materials is described, and its effectiveness was compared with that of formalin fixation. Polyhexamethyleneguanidine hydrochloride (PHMGH) was used as the embalming agent. This fixation method was used to obtain anatomical and histological preparations from human organs and chick embryos at 12 days of development. The anatomical preparations had external appearances similar to those of freshly prepared organs. Histological preparations showed no great distortion of the microscopic picture characteristic of preparations fixed with formalin. The results obtained here support the use of PHMGH in morphological studies.