MUSEUM TECHNIQUES

15/07/2021 FRANK S; MMLS 1

 OBJECTIVES
By the end of this presentations, learners
should be able to:
• Describe the aims of museum techniques
• Describe specimen handling for museum
purposes
• Describe museum organisation and assembly
of specimens
• Describe special museum techniques
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 Introduction
THINK ABOUT A MUSEUM

• It can be a small, well lit room, with suitable

shelving.
• A table and chair
• A microscope

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 Introduction…
• The museum is never an unchanging collection
of potted specimens. It should be regularly
updated with relevant data.

• Old specimens should be replaced with more

satisfactory material.

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 Introduction…
A well organised pathology museum aims to:
• Be a permanent exhibition of common pathological
conditions for under and post graduate self-education.

• Be a collection of specimens illustrating rare conditions

or specimens of historical interest.

• Be a collection of specimens which can be used as a

basis of pathology quizes, medical exhibition,
examination vivas etc.

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 Introduction …
A well organised pathology museum aims to:
• Be a permanent source of histological material
for teaching, research etc

• Be a permanent source of photographic

material, both gross and histological, for
exhibitions, publications etc

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 Basic museum techniques
The way the specimen is dealt with to produce a
permanent mount can be summarised:
• Reception
• Preparation
• Fixation
• Restoration
• Preservation
• Presentation

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 Reception of the specimen
• Specimens received for permanent display
may come from operating theatres, PM rooms
or research labs.
• It is essential that accurate records are kept.
• This calls for a reception book.
• These need to be recorded; diagnosis, ward,
etc.
• Specimens should be given accession
numbers, year of entry.
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 Reception of the specimen…
• Specimens are given catalogue numbers that
inform their location in the museum.

• The labels must be made using indelible ink,

and attached on containers.

• Specific specimens should be stored

specifically. Eg liver and gall bladder can
never be put together.
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 Specimen preparation
• No matter the source of the tissue, the best
museum specimen is one that arrives unfixed.

• However, whether the specimen is already fixed

or fresh, any gross trimming and dissection
should be carried out immediately.

• If unfixed, the specimen should never be allowed

to dry, neither should it be washed in water.

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 Specimen preparation…
• If washing off excess blood is necessary, this
should be done in a fixative.

• Photography should be done when the tissue is

still fresh and unfixed, while it retains its
natural colour.

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 Specimen fixation
• The only fixative acceptable is formalin, due to the
need to preserve the specimen for permanent museum
mount, and the ability to restore original tissue colour.

• More fixatives are derived from the formalin fixation

technique, ie the Kaiserling.

• The method which Kaiserling recommended was based

on initial fixation in a formalin based fixative,
containing a number of salts to provide a neutral pH.

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 Specimen fixation…

The Kaiserling solution.

• The solution contains 10% formalin, potassium
acetate and potassium nitrate.
• This solution is of pH 7

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 Specimen fixation…
• The specimen should be placed in an oversize
container, with 3-4 times its volume of
fixative.

• For some larger specimens, its better to change

the fixative once or twice.

• The size of the specimen dictates how long the

specimen should remain in the fixative.
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 Specimen fixation…
Hollow viscera, eg lung, bladder etc
• Cut hollow organs should be padded out with
cotton wool.
• If uncut, they can be pressure inflated.
• The fixative can be injected in such organs
using a hyodermic syringe.
• Over inflation should be avoided.

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 Specimen fixation…
Solid organs eg liver, spleen etc
• These may be perfused through their main
arteries.

• Or they should be immediately sliced in the

required plane to allow adequate fixation of
exposed surfaces.

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 Specimen fixation…
Limbs
• The injection method also applies.

• A more precise method involves suspending

the whole limb in cold (-600c) 95% alcohol for
a minimum of one hour.

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 Specimen fixation…
Heart
• In order to maintain the natural shape, it is
important to pad out all cavities with cotton
wool before fixation.

• If received uncut, its placed in an adequate

volume of fixative, while additional fixative is
perfused through the coronary astia.

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 Specimen fixation…
Brain
• Because it soft, its difficult to handle while fresh. So it
should be fixed before cutting.

• Distortion can also occur easily because of its softness.

• Its better to perfuse the brain through the basilar and

cerebral arteries at its base.

• It should then be suspended by the basilar artery within the

fixative.

• If left in the solution for a week, it can then be sliced.

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 Restoration of specimens
• After fixation, the natural colour of the
specimen is lost.

• Its therefore necessary to restore the specimen

to as near the original colour as possible.

• The most recommended method is the second

stage of the Kaiserling method.
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 Restoration of specimens…
• This involves removing the specimen from the
fixative, washing in running water, and
transferring to 95% alcohol.

• It should be left in alcohol for 0.5 to 12 hours,

while its watched for colour development.

• If not already done, the specimen should be

photographed at this stage.
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 Restoration of specimens…
• When colour is restored satisfactorily, the
specimen is removed and placed in a
preserving or mounting solution.

• If left for too long in alcohol, the colour may

fade, and this is irreversible.

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 Specimen preservation
• The final preserving solution is one in which
the specimen will be mounted for display.
• The third Kaiserling solution is recommended.
• It’s a glycerine solution containing sodium
acetate.
• With a 40% glycerine solution, the refractive
index is similar to that of perspex, used in
modern containers.

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 Specimen presentation
• In the older medical museums, specimens would
be mounted in jars, which would be cylindrical in
shape.

• Specimens would be suspended by strings.

• Jars would be filled to the top, with preservation

solutions.

• And covered with a lid.

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 Specimen presentation…
• Rectangular jars gradually replaced cylindrical
ones.
• They have an advantage of polished flat faces,
which avoid magnification and distortion of
specimens.
• Specimens still have to be suspended by cords.
• These rectangular jars had glass tops, and had
to be attached with either putty or some sort of
cement.
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 Specimen presentation…
• With the introduction of perspex, a solid
transparent plastic made of polymethyl
methacrylate, museum jars can be constructed
to any specification.

• Perspex is a transparent thermoplastic, often

used in sheet form as a lightweight or shatter-
resistant alternative to glass.

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 Specimen presentation…
• With the introduction of perspex, museum jars can be
constructed to any specification.

These plastic jars have the advantage that:

• They can be completely filled with the mounting solution

• The specimen can be attached to rigid supporting plates

within the jar

• They are light and strong.

• However, its advisable to mount any specimen preserved in

absolute alcohol and dissolved by methyl salicylate, in glass
jars, since plastic would be destroyed.
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 Construction of the jar
• This takes several designs.

• Jars are made from sheets of perspex.

• These sheets of perspex are commercially obtainable in a

number of sizes.

• When the sheet is purchased, it has a protective paper

attached, which provides protection against scratches and
scores.

• Special machines are used to cut perspex

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 Construction of the jar…
• When all pieces of the jar are cut, and ready for assembling,
the protective paper is removed.

• The cut pieces are thoroughly washed and allowed to dry.

Perspex pieces can be joined in a number of ways.

• By using a solvent of perspex, eg chloroform of ethylene
dichloride
• By using commercial filling cement eg tensol
• By using a home-made cement from dichloroethane,
glacialacetic acid and perspex chippings.

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 Construction of the jar…
• When the jar is assembled, the joints should be allowed
to harden for at least 24 hours.

• After hardening, any excess overlap of perspex is filed

and polished.

• A plate is cut from 1/16th pf perspex, so that it slides

easily in the grooves.

• This plate is usually of clear perspex to enable clear

viewing from all sides.

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 Mounting the specimen
• The specimen is attached to the specimen plate,
just to support the specimen within the jar.
This is done by either;
• Tying it to the plate
• Or by impaling it onto perspex spikes previously
fixed to the plate.

• The specimen is placed on the plate, and oriented

in its anatomical position.

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 Mounting the specimen…
• The specimen, firmly attached on its plate, is placed in a
container of K111.
• Any pieces of tissue floating should be removed or re-
attached.
• The specimen is allowed to drain, and the plate thoroughly
cleaned.
• The jar is washed in detergent, and dried carefully.
• The jar is then stood, open end downwards, onto a piece of
glass.
• Chloroform is pipetted around it.
• The jar is rocked in this pool of chloroform, so that fresh
chloroform is continuously brought into contact with the
edges of the jar.
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 Mounting the specimen…
• After 2-3 min, the jar is rapidly inverted.

• The specimen, on its plate is slid, quickly into the

grooves in the sides of the jar, and the base is carefully
placed on the jar.

• K111 is run from an aspirator into the jar via the hole in
the base.

• Excess air is expelled and sellotape fixed over the hole

in the base.

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 Special museum techniques
• Read and make notes on mounting of dry
specimens.

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 Special museum techniques…
Gross staining of specimens

• There are a number of stains used to

demonstrate the presence of normal or
abnormal constituents.

• Relevant negative controls should always be

mounted alongside.
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 Special museum techniques…
Gross staining of specimens

This can be done for any of the following.

• Amyloid
• Iron
• Fat
• Calcuim
One must remember the primary stain for the
element of interest, and then the MOUNTING
SOLUTION
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 Special museum techniques…
Read and make notes on the alizarin red S
method fro gross staining of calcium.
Key areas
• When its used
• Components of alizarin red s solution
• Procedure
• Mounting solution

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 Other Special museum techniques
• Injection techniques

• Cough and wentworth whole lung sections

• Barium impregnation of lung slices

• Macro-photography

• Embedding photographs

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 Organisation of specimens
• The aim is to have specimens that can be easily located
and accompanied by all the relevant information.

Arrangement
Specimens can be classified by:
• Anatomical system, eg all liver conditions together

• However, is a disease process is to be studied, a simple

numbering system enables specimens to be easily
selected from the general collection.

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 Organisation of specimens…
Numbering
• Having decided on an anatomical division to
the collection, a simple prefix is given to each
eg
• C for cardiovascular
• R for respiratory
• S for skeletal
• B for breast
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 Organisation of specimens…
Numbering
• The letter can be followed by a number, just to
indicate the main anatomical breakdown of
each system
• Eg
• C1 for hear
• C2 for valves
• C3 for arteries
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 Organisation of specimens…
Numbering
• This can be followed by a point, indicating the
disease process
• Eg
• C1.1 for congenital heart conditions
• C1.2 for inflammatory heart conditions
• C1.3 for parasites

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 Organisation of specimens…
Labelling
• This can be examplified b the older medical
museums, with glass jars, having hand painted
labels.

• In newer museums, perspex jars can be seen

with machine engraved labels.

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 Organisation of specimens…
Labelling
• Labelling can also be done with dymo tape labels,
which provides a range of colours, for a differential
labelling system.

• Thus specimens with a red label can be of rare

conditions, or ones that undergraduates don’t need to
concentrate much.

• Yellow labelled specimens are ones that are common

conditions, perfect for undergraduates.

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 Organisation of specimens…
Cataloguing
• The simple loose-leaf catalogue is sufficient to
hold all the necessary information relating to each
specimen.

• As the collection enlarges, there must be a

separate catalogue for each system.

• All information about a given specimen should be

in one catalogue sheet.

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 Organisation of specimens…
Cataloguing
• This sheet should have the diagnosis of the
condition, its museum number, and a brief
description of the specimen and a brief case
history.

• These catalogue sheets should be protected

from damage, by either laminating or sealing
them.
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 END

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