[Nhcoll-l] Greenfix as a long term storage medium?

[Simon Moore]

I have never used Greenfix which is a glyoxal-based fixative but I am unsure of whether it brings about a fixation reaction - chemical change so that protein molecules are more stabilised.  If so, then a transfer to alcohol should do no harm in theory. 

For the deer leg I would advise a glycol / phenoxyethanol-based preservative, there are several at least and that will solve the problem of flexibility.  

Wait until there have been more responses from those who may have used Greenfix. 

With all good wishes, Simon

Simon Moore MIScT, RSci, FLS, ACR
Conservator of Natural Sciences and Cutlery Historian,

www.natural-history-conservation.com




> On 16 Feb 2022, at 09:08, Claire Smith <c.e.smith at pgr.reading.ac.uk> wrote:
> 
> Do any of you use Greenfix as a long-term storage medium in your fluid collections?
> We have a grand total of ten specimens stored in Greenfix since 2014, two of which have almost completely evaporated. (They’re very small, <50ml.) We’re just debating the benefits of topping them up, versus switching them into Ethanol.
>  
> We’re also wondering about Greenfix’s effects on tissues – we have a specimen which is used for teaching a couple of times a year, which needs to remain pliable, as it’s a deer leg used to demonstrate working musculature. It’s currently stored in formalin, which means we have to wash and re-fix it every time it’s used. We’d like to transfer it into a safer fluid for handling, and were wondering whether Greenfix would be suitable for this?
>  
> If anybody has any advice on the subject, we’d be very grateful!
> Many thanks, 
> Claire Smith & Caitlin Walton
> Cole Museum of Zoology
> University of Reading
> _______________________________________________
> Nhcoll-l mailing list
> Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu
> https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l
> 
> _______________________________________________
> NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of
> Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose
> mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of
> natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to
> society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information.
> Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate.

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman.yale.edu/pipermail/nhcoll-l/attachments/20220216/a13ada38/attachment.html>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: PastedGraphic-2.tiff
Type: image/tiff
Size: 38900 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://mailman.yale.edu/pipermail/nhcoll-l/attachments/20220216/a13ada38/attachment.tiff>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: MA logo.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 19375 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://mailman.yale.edu/pipermail/nhcoll-l/attachments/20220216/a13ada38/attachment.jpg>