TRANSPARENT CHAMBER 

 TECHEIQUES 



354 



TRANSPARENT CHAMBER 

 TECHNIQUES 



found to incite what seemed to us to 

 be definite abnormal or pathological 

 reactions in the living tissue, in the 

 form of excessive extravasations of red 

 and emigrations of white blood cells in 

 the early stages, and later, of large ab- 

 normal accumulations of cells next the 

 Incite. Consequently, for "round- 

 table" chambers we have preferred 

 celluloid, to which the tissues do not 

 appear to react unfavorably. How- 

 ever, beautiful preparations may be 

 obtained with chambers made of metha- 

 crylate resin plastics. 



Moore, R. L. (Anat. Rec, 1936, 64, 

 387) (in E. R. Clark's laboratory), has 

 adapted the "round-table" chamber to 

 the ear of the dog. The chamber used 

 was similar in construction to the one 

 used in the rabbit, except that the table 

 was about 2.00 mm., instead of 1.3 mm. 

 high. He also found that, in order to 

 obtain chambers in which the ingrowths 

 from the periphery filled the table area 

 completely, it was necessary to have the 

 two parts of the chamber held more 

 rigidly together than in the rabbits' 

 chambers. This was accomplished by 

 using, in addition to the buffers, the 

 celluloid and rubber washers as advo- 

 cated in the original "round-table" 

 description (Clark et al. Anat. Rec, 

 1930, 47, 187). Of 4 "round-table" 

 chambers installed in ears of dogs, 2 

 without washers failed to fill the table 

 area, while in both chambers provided 

 with washers, the growth was complete. 

 Quiet, large-eared beagle (or rabbit) 

 hounds were used. Moore also success- 

 fully installed a "preformed-tissue" 

 chamber in the dog's ear. 



Williams, R. G. (Anat. Rec, 1934, 

 60, 493) has installed "round-table" 

 chambers in skin flaps, made in the 

 lateral body-wall of rabbits, and has 

 pointed out that, by the use of the 

 "preformed-tissue" type of chamber, 

 striated muscle (the panniculus carno- 

 sus) could be brought under microscopic 

 observation there. 



Algire, G. H. (J. Nat'l. Cancer Inst., 

 1943, 4, p. 1), at the National Cancer 

 Institute, Bethesda, Maryland, has 

 developed methods for the installation 

 and microscopic study of double-walled, 

 transparent chambers in the dorsal 

 skin of mice. The chambers are an 

 adaptation of the "preformed-tissue" 

 chambers of Clark et al. (1930). Re- 

 cently Algire and Legallais (J. Nat'l. 

 Cancer Inst., 1949, 4, 225) have de- 

 scribed a "round-table" modification, 

 for the study of new forming tissue, 

 and also a method of obtaining access 

 to the chambers. The maximum time 

 of survival of Algire 's chambers has 



been two months. Several cancer stud- 

 ies have been published from Algire 's 

 laboratory. 



Other parts of the mammal have 

 been brought under long-continued 

 (weeks or months) microscopic observa- 

 tion by the extension of the chamber or 

 window methods. Zintel, H. A. (Anat. 

 Rec, 1936, 66, 437) studied, in rabbits, 

 a loop of small intestine with its at- 

 tached mesentery, drawn outside the 

 body into a semicircular celluloid con- 

 tainer, and maintained there for several 

 weeks. Microscopic studies with trans- 

 mitted light were possible on the mesen- 

 tery. Similar chambers have been 

 used on dogs (Abell, R. G. and I. H. 

 Page, Surg., Gyn., and Obst., 1943, 

 77, 348). Wentsler, N. E. (Anat. Rec, 

 1936, 66, 423) has successfully installed 

 single-paned windows, constructed of 

 celluloid, in the skulls of rabbits, 

 through which it was possible to watch, 

 through the microscope, the pial cir- 

 culation, over a period of 8 months. 

 In Montevideo, Estabile, C. (Proc 

 Am. Sci. Cong, [of 1940], 1942, 6, 147) 

 has used a window similar to the Wents- 

 ler cranial window, to observe the 

 contractions of the musculature of the 

 right atrium, with transmitted light 

 provided by an electric light bulb 

 passed through the internal jugular 

 vein into the atrium. In a personal 

 communication Estabile described to 

 the author the use of the same window 

 to observe the stomach wall in action, 

 with light furnished by a light bulb 

 inside the stomach. 



Transparent chambers and windows 

 have provided new methods for micro- 

 scopic observation of, and for experi- 

 ment upon cells, tissues and organs in 

 the living mammal. They are of 

 value, in both research and teaching 

 to the physiologist, pathologist, phar- 

 macologist, bacteriologist and surgeon, 

 but especially to the living anatomist, 

 whose field is fundamental to, and in a 

 way encompasses all the others. 

 Transparent Chamber Techniqnes — Writ- 

 ten by Glenn H. Algire, U. S. Public 

 Health Service, Bethesda, Md. June 

 15, 1950 — Transparent-chamber tech- 

 niques seek to make attainable a 

 dynamic, functional approach to prob- 

 lems of histophysiology and cellular 

 biology through microscopic observa- 

 tion of tissues and cells in unanesthe- 

 tized animals over periods of from 

 several weeks to many months. This 

 technique was first reported by Sandi- 

 son, J. C. (Anat. Rec. 1924, 28, 281-287; 

 1928, 41, 447-474), working under Dr. 

 E. L. Clark, in whose laboratory the 

 rabbit ear chambers were later on 



