[Nhcoll-l] Kaiserling III/glycerol and DNA preservation question

[Andries J. van Dam]

Dear Sebastien,

 

Transferring specimens held in formaldehyde to Kaiserling III or glycerol 65% will significantly diminish further damage to DNA. Techniques of extracting genetic data from such specimens will likely further improve and therefore it should not be seen as “a lost cause”.

 

The article titled Fluid preservation in brain banking: a review might be of interest to you:

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11058410/#S4.4

 

Kind regards,

 

Dries

 

Andries J. van Dam

 

Conservator (1983-2024) - Anatomical Museum Leiden University Medical Centre 

Consultant fluid preservation - Alcomon Company

CEO & founder - Fix for Life BV

 

 

Van: Nhcoll-l <nhcoll-l-bounces at mailman.yale.edu> namens Sebastien Enault <voraghl at gmail.com>
Datum: donderdag 5 februari 2026 om 20:30
Aan: NHCOLL-new <nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu>
Onderwerp: [Nhcoll-l] Kaiserling III/glycerol and DNA preservation question

 

Dear all,

I have a couple of questions regarding fluid collections on behalf of some colleagues (that do not work in the same country/institution) who are not on NHCOLL and don't speak good english. They are looking into transferring a collection, mostly ichthyological in nature, currently being held in formaldehyde (no data on the concentration, buffer etc) to kaiserling III or glycerol (concentration of the latter to be determined, but mentions have been made of 65% (based on the publications of McLeod) to pure glycerol). The collection has been mostly untouched for at least 50 years.

While I understand there are many issues associated with such a choice and such a strategy has been repeatedly advised against, I'm not making the decisions here and from what I understood ethanol is out of the question for safety, volume and infrastructure issues.

 

What I'm mostly interested in is the following: is there any data regarding the conservation of DNA in kaiserling of glycerol preserved specimens? While I know that formaldehyde does a lot of damage to DNA, various papers have reported some degree of success in extracting genetic data from such preserved specimens. Considering there might still be something to salvage after 50+ years in formaldehyde, and if they do indeed go ahead with the project, would it be of any interest to sample a small piece of muscle tissue on the specimens for separate storage in ethanol, and if so, what would be the best way to do it? Or is it a lost cause?

 

Many thanks in advance and best,

Sebastien

======================
Sebastien Enault, PhD
www.kraniata.com

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