A natural compound (reuterin) produced by Lactobacillus reuteri for biological-tissue fixation.

The study was undertaken to examine the degree of tissue fixation by reuterin, a natural compound produced by Lactobacillus reuteri, at distinct fixation conditions (pH, temperature, and fixative concentration). Additionally, the rate of tissue fixation by reuterin was investigated using glutaraldehyde as a control. It was found by the Fourier transformed infrared spectroscopy and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy that both mono- and di-aldehyde reuterin oligomers may be present in the acidic and basic aqueous reuterin solutions. Therefore, reuterin may crosslink biological tissues as glutaraldehyde (a di-aldehyde agent). The degree of tissue fixation by reuterin is significantly affected by its fixation conditions. Generally, with increasing the pH, temperature, or fixative concentration, the reduction in free-amino-group content, denaturation temperature, tensile strength, and resistance against enzymatic degradation of the reuterin-fixed tissue increased significantly. Also, the rate of tissue fixation by reuterin is significantly slower than that by glutaraldehyde. However, after fixation, it was noted that the reuterin-fixed tissue has comparable free-amino-group content, denaturation temperature, tensile strength, and resistance against enzymatic degradation as the glutaraldehyde-fixed tissue. Copyright 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd.