Muscle biopsy samples must be frozen in liquid nitrogen immediately after taken from patient. This requirement is a major obstacle to the transfer of muscle biopsies. Therefore, patients with neuromuscular disease often have to travel to centers with on-site muscle pathology laboratories for muscle biopsy. We developed a preservative solution named Kurt-Ozcan solution to transfer the patients’ biopsy material. We have shown that it protects the morphological features of muscle tissue for 18 hours at +4oC. This study was done to test whether the protective effect of it on muscle tissue continues 6 months after it produced. One Sprague- Dawley rat was sacrificed; striated muscle tissue samples were collected and kept in Kurt-Ozcan Solution. Groups were compared morphologically with samples frozen in liquid nitrogen. Modified Gomori-Trichrome and Hematoxylen-eosine stains were used for morphological evaluation. Evaluation was conducted semiquantitatively by scoring edema, organization and artificial changes. The mean scores of the groups kept in Kurt-Ozcan solution for 3, 6, and 18 hours were 0.50, 0.66 and 0.82 respectively and there were no differences with the control group scores. Kurt-Ozcan solution kept at +4oC for 6 months is seen to continue to preserve the morphological characteristics of muscle tissue up to 18 hours.

Keywords: preservative solution, morphology, skeletal muscle tissue