跳至主要内容

DNA/RNA Degradation Rate in Long Term Fixed Museum Specimens

Read full paper at:
http://www.scirp.org/journal/PaperInformation.aspx?PaperID=52307#.VI-oXsnQrzE

In today’s research driven society, it has become commonplace for institutions to rely upon DNA and RNA extraction techniques to help obtain genomic data from old specimens. Generally, specimens are preserved for future gross examination and/or teaching. Using histological examination of specimens from museum jars from the Pathology Department at the Indiana University School of Medicine, the sequential and chronological degradation of DNA and RNA has been studied. We examined gross specimens from 1920 to 2000. We evaluated histologic preservation of kidney, liver, heart, lung, spleen, uterus and brain for nuclear structure in these samples. Nuclear preservation was based on amount of nuclei per microscopic field and the crispness of the nuclear membrane and internal features. The nuclei in high lipid tissues such as the brain were found to degrade at a quicker rate than dense tissues such as the heart and uterus. Our study has shown that specimens preserved beyond fifty years were likely to have little to no nuclei left, thus indicating that there was little to no DNA and RNA remaining. This technique of histologic evaluation is an important finding and a general guideline which may save research institutions from the expensive process of DNA and RNA extraction.
Cite this paper
Cook, S. , Dodge, C. , Morgan, R. and Sandusky, G. (2015) DNA/RNA Degradation Rate in Long Term Fixed Museum Specimens. Forensic Medicine and Anatomy Research, 3, 1-6. doi: 10.4236/fmar.2015.31001. 
 

[1] Miething, F., Hering, S., Hanschke, B. and Dressler, J. (2006) Effect of Fixation to the Degradation of Nuclear and Mitochondrial DNA in Different Tissues. Journal of Histochemistry & Cytology, 54, 371-374.
[2] Stephen, M., Hewitt, M.D., et al. (2008) Tissue Handling and Specimen Preparation in Surgical Pathology Issues Concerning the Recovery of Nucleic Acids from Formalin-Fixed, Paraffin-Embedded Tissue. Archives of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine, 132, 1929-1935.
[3] Xie, R., Chung, J.-Y., Ylaya, K., Williams, R.L., Guerrero, N., Nakatsuka, N., Badie, C. and Hewitt, S.M. (2011) Factors Influencing the Degradation of Archival Formalin-Fixed Paraffin-Embedded Tissue Sections. Journal of Histochemistry & Cytochemistry, 59, 356-365.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1369/0022155411398488
[4] Jewell, S., Sedmak, D. and Srinivasan, M. (2002) Effect of Fixatives and Tissue Processing on the Content and Integrity of Nucleic Acids. American Journal of Pathology, 161, 1961-1971.
[5] Klopfleisch, R., Weiss, A.T. and Gruber, A.D. (2011) Excavation of a Buried Treasure—DNA, mRNA, miRNA and Protein Analysis in Formalin Fixed, Paraffin Embedded Tissues. Histology and Histopathology, 26, 797-810.
[6] Turashvili, G., Yang, W., McKinney, S., Kalloger, S., Gale, N., Ng, Y., Chow, K., Bell, L., Lorette, J., Carrier, M., Luk, M., Aparicio, S., Huntsman, D. and Yip, S. (2011) Nucleic Acid Quantity and Quality from Paraffin Blocks: Defining Optimal Fixation, Processing and DNA/RNA Extraction Techniques. Experimental and Molecular Pathology, 92, 33- 43. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.yexmp.2011.09.013
[7] Stan, A.D., Ghose, S., Gao, X.-M., Roberts, R.C., Lewis-Amezcua, K., Hatanpaa, K.K. and Tamminga, C.A. (2006) Human Postmortem Tissue: What Quality Markers Matter? Brain Research, 1123, 1-11.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.brainres.2006.09.025
[8] Chung, J.-Y., Braunschweig, T., Williams, R., Guerrero, N., Hoffman, K.M., Kwon, M., Song, Y.K., Libutti, S.L. and Hewitt, S.M. (2008) Factors in Tissue Handling and Processing That Impact RNA Obtained from Formalin-Fixed, Paraffin-Embedded Tissue. Journal of Histochemistry & Cytochemistry, 56, 1033-1042.
[9] Schander, C. and Halaynch, K.M. (2003) DNA, PCR and Formalinized Animal Tissue—A Short Review and Protocols. Organisms Diversity & Evolution, 3, 195-205. http://dx.doi.org/10.1078/1439-6092-00071           eww141216lx
[10] Niland, E.E., McGuire, A., Cox, M.H. and Sandusky, G.E. (2012) High Quality DNA Obtained with an Automated DNA Extraction Method with 70+ Year Old Formalin-Fixed Celloidin-Embedded (FFCE) Blocks from the Indiana Medical History Museum. American Journal of Translational Research, 4, 198-205.
标签：

评论

发表评论

此博客中的热门博文

Does Immigration Promote the Investment of the Monopolistic Firm?

In the present paper, we examine the effect of increasing uncertainty of immigrants’ growth on the optimal timing of investment of a firm that has a monopolistic power over the labor market. It is revealed that when the uncertainty of immigrants’ growth is more than a threshold level, increasing uncertainty of immigrants’ growth accelerates the optimal timing of firms’ investment and enhances the economic growth, even if the uncertainty of immigrants’ growth is formulated by the geometric Brownian motion, which is in sharp contrast to the standard result that an increase in the uncertainty postpones the optimal timing. With an increase in the immigrants over the past ten years, workforces in the host countries have been growing significantly to the extent that the immigrants represent 70% of the increase in the workforce in Europe, and 47% in the United States as OECD indicates. In the present paper, we attempted to investigate the effect of increased uncertainty caused by the growi...
发表评论
阅读全文

Education Policy Implementation: A Mechanism for Enhancing Primary Education Development in Zanzibar

Education is one of the fundamental rights of individuals; therefore, the government of a country needs to develop and strengthen educational policy and quality as well as to ensure that everyone has equal access to basic education. The improvement of access and quality of education in the world is becoming as an essential factor in development, whereas the basic education (primary school), is acknowledged as a foundation of the higher educational development for every country. To fulfill this goal, governments introduce several policies and procedures; however, it requires some reforms and participation from the politician, policymakers, and other stakeholders to re-examine educational policy so that it can lead to multiplication and betterment of the reforms. Educational reforms actually focus on accountability. A positive educational development and reform is very challenging and needs more effort and strategy on how to use and utilize the resources effectively as such it can achie...
发表评论
阅读全文