Abstract1_19 (Hasumi)

Hasumi, M., and Y. G. Watanabe: An efficient method for skeletochronology. Herpetological Review (USA, International) 38(4): 404-406, December 2007.

Abstract: For accurate processing of a large number (occasionally > 500) of small-sized toes clipped from individual salamanders, we provided a more efficient method than usual with a cryostat in skeletochronological approaches. This method involved easy removal of muscle tissue surrounding phalanges to enhance adhesion of sections to microscope slides, and reversible staining of a white-colored phalanx with acid fuchsine so that samples colored purple-red can be properly easy to orient in a white-colored paraffin block. Acid fuchsine was dissoluble in water but indissoluble in alcohol, and therefore it was retained through tissue dehydration and paraffin embedding. It washed out during subsequent procedures in which water was used, and thus did not hinder final staining of phalangeal bone tissue and its lines of arrested growth.