Nonfrozen Transport Medium Preserves and Restores Skeletal Muscle Enzymatic Activity and Morphology

Muscle biopsy plays an integral role in the evaluation of patients with neuromuscular disease. Optimal interpretation requires adequate preservation of both morphology and enzymatic activity of the tissue. Ideally, fresh tissue should be transported immediately to a specialized neuromuscular laboratory, where a portion of the biopsy is frozen for the evaluation of labile sarcoplasmic enzymes. This is not always possible, and problems associated with on-site freezing and transport of frozen tissue may arise. When performed improperly, freezing muscle introduces ice crystal artifacts that distort the aqueous sarcoplasm, which potentially limits recognition of underlying pathology. The authors describe a new method to transport muscle biopsies in Aedesta™-cell/ tissue preservation (ACTP) media. Our results indicate that skeletal muscle transported in ACTP is better preserved and exhibits fewer artifacts than muscle transported via conventional methods. In addition, the immersion in ACTP of previously frozen muscle with extensive artifacts significantly reduces ice crystal artifacts and restores original sarcoplasmic morphology and enzymatic activity. ( The J Histotechnol 32(2):49–53, 2009)