The Use of Confocal Microscopy for the Examination of E12 Sheet Plastinated Human Tissue

E12 sheet plastination has been used as a teaching aid for several years. More recently, El2 sheet plastinated tissues have been used as a research tool in a variety of areas. This paper describes a new procedure of viewing E12 sheet plastinated material. Skin and subcutaneous tissue from four formalin-fixed cadavers was used in this investigation. The blood vessels of the tissues were perfusion stained with diluted Gill's hematoxylin #1. The tissues were then processed for E12 sheet plastination. Light microscopy and confocal laser scanning microscopy were used to view the E12 plastinated specimens. It was found that autofluorescence was dominant within this tissue at 488nm excitation. Due to the emission spectrum and the spatial distribution of the autofluorescence, this autofluorescence is likely to be due to the connective tissue - in particular, the collagen. The results of this study indicate that, using serial optical sections, the confocal laser scanning microscope provides a much higher resolution image, and reveals structures that are virtually invisible by light microscopy.