Evaluation and comparison of deoxyribonucleic acid typing methods on human tissue fixed with different fixatives

Commonly employed fixing fluids result in very satisfactory histomorphologic analysis; however, they don't allow deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) typing methods to provide good results. This study investigated the effect of eight fixatives on DNA extracted from placenta samples. Fresh tissue (placenta) specimens were fixed by immersion in different fixing fluids for different periods (from 24 h to 60 days). Different DNA extraction methods were assayed. Gene Amp 2400 and 9700 Thermal Cyclers, coupled to AmpFLSTR Identifier kit (Applied Biosystems), that allows the simultaneous amplification of 15 STRs loci, was used for quantification. Amplified products were analyzed by capillary electrophoresis on ABI PRISM 310 and 3100 Genetic Analyzers (Applied Biosystems). (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.