Propylene phenoxetol as a "preservative" for living holothurians.

Abstract

A WELL-KNOWN disadvantage of the use of the holothurian Stichopus moebii for the preparation of isolated organs for physiological experimentation is the process of local degeneration1 initiated in the body wall by the trauma of dissection. If the dissection is at all prolonged, the connective tissue begins to ‘deliquesce’ and the body wall flows out in an ooze, much as it does when subjected to heat. It seems useful as well as of some interest to know that an agent used for narcotizing invertebrates and fish can also retard the local degeneration reaction.