Honey as an Alternative to Formalin in the Demonstration of Connective Tissue Components

Abstract

The preservative and antimicrobial powers of honey have been known for centuries. Recently, it has been shown that tissues preserved in low concentrations of honey and stained with hematoxylin and eosin yield results comparable with tissues that have been conventionally fixed in formalin. This work set out to establish that honey could be used as an alternative to formalin in the demonstration of connective tissue components using special staining techniques. In this study, fresh goat tissues were preserved for 24 h in concentrations of honey ranging from 1% to 20% diluted with distilled water. The tissues were processed to paraffin wax, sectioned, and connective tissues demonstrated using conventional textbook staining techniques. Results obtained from this work showed that tissues treated in 5%, 10%, and 20% honey at room temperature gave excellent demonstration of connective tissue components by all staining methods and were comparable to those obtained with formalin-fixed control tissues. However, tissues preserved in 1% honey gave inferior levels of staining, with results ranging from weak to unsatisfactory. These results support the use of 10% honey as an alternative to formalin in the histological demonstration of connective tissues without the need for amendments to existing laboratory protocols. (The J Histotechnol 31:67, 2008)Submitted January 25, 2008; accepted with revisions April 17, 2008