Persistence of sudanophilic lipid in sections of mummified tissue.

Abstract

PARAFFIN sections of Egyptian mummy tissues made by various workers1–4 have shown the appearances of adipose tissue; examinations of mummy tissues by frozen section have been infrequent3,5. Shaw3 failed to detect fat globules in frozen sections of adipose tissue from eighteenth-dynasty canopic material, namely, mesentery and gall-bladder serosa. Lipids have been demonstrated by chemical methods in mummy tissue6,7 and proved to consist largely of fatty acids with traces of unaltered fat. These fatty acids have been thought to be derived not only from neutral fat but also from protein during the embalming process. Fatty acids and cholesterol have also been demonstrated by chemical methods in remnants of mummy brain8.