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TISSUES TO BE PROCURED
(minimally and preferably within 5-8 hours after death):
1. Brain
2. Liver
3. Muscle
4. Skin
5: Others as the specific case dictates
PROCESSING AND STORAGE
OF TISSUES:
1. Brain
- Remove the brain, with cerebellum and brainstem intact;
cut mid-sagitally and separate the cerebral hemispheres.
- Fix 1/2 of brain in formalin and store for several weeks;
then drain off excess formalin and repackage in a heat-sealed
plastic bag (x2) or airtight plastic container and FEDEX
to the repository, billing recipient (see notes).
- Remove the brainstem and cerebellum from the other half
of the brain by sectioning through the cerebral peduncles.
- Section the cerebellum, longitudinally, just lateral to
the most lateral extent of the brainstem.
- Section the remaining hemisphere, placing the medial surface
down, coronally at 1cm intervals from frontal to occipital
poles.
- With the remainder of the brain: place each section on
a freezing tray (aluminum foil over a block of dry ice or
if a block is unavailable, aluminum foil over a stainless
steel tray over pellets of dry ice). Cover the sections
with powdered dry ice as they are placed.
- Once the sections are frozen (about 5 minutes), wrap each
in the foil and label in the order each section was cut.
These foil-wrapped sections can be placed in a ziploc freezer
storage bag and stored in the -70° C freezer until they
are shipped to the repository (see notes).
2. Liver
Place approximately 1 gram of liver into the same container
of fixative as the brain. Freeze a 1cm thick slab of liver
in the same manner as the brain.
3. Muscle
Place approximately 1 g of muscle into the same fixative container
as the brain. Freeze approximately 10g of muscle in the same
manner as the brain (generally, any skeletal muscle will do
but it may depend on the clinical history).
4. Skin
Place a 10mmx3mm piece of skin with underlying adipose removed
into sterile culture medium in a sterile falcon tube and FEDEX
to the repository. If a fibroblast culture exists, this step
will not be necessary.
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