Dehydration Protocol

• The process of replacing water contained in tissues or cells with a dehydrating agent is called tissue dehydration.
• Both normal tissue and diseased tissue contain varying amounts of water. According to the determination, the material composition of the human body is about 55-67% water, protein 15-18%, lipid 10-15%, inorganic salt 3-4% and sugar 1-2%.
• The specimen is usually dehydrated by immersing it in a series of ethanol solutions of increasing concentrations until it reaches pure anhydrous ethanol. Ethanol is miscible with water at all ratios, so the water in the specimen is gradually replaced by ethanol.

Routine Dehydration

• This method is suitable for tissue with diameter of 0.5-2.4 cm and thickness of 0.3 cm.
• Washing the tissue with water for 1-2 minutes and then enter the dewatering procedure.
• The tissues are placed successively in 80% ethanol for 3 hours, 95% ethanol for 2 hours, 95% ethanol for 1 hour, and anhydrous ethanol.

Dehydration of Small Specimen

• A small specimen is a tissue less than 0.3 cm in diameter.
• Don’t put all the specimens together for dehydration, they need to be separated by size.
• The general dehydration sequence is, 70% ethanol 15 minutes, 90% ethanol 15 minutes, 100% ethanol 15 minutes, 100% ethanol 15 minutes, 100% ethanol 30 minutes, and 100% ethanol for 45 minutes.

• A series of progressive concentrations are used to avoid excessive tissue distortion.
• Excessive dehydration tends to make the tissue brittle and difficult to shape.

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