Fluorescent skeletons in the Faculty of Science in UAEMex

Seeing vertebrates through screens is like a Tim Burton movie scene, a mix between fantasy due to the fluorescence of colours, and horror due to the visual effect of skeletons.
In fact, it is about the applied science of making soft tissues (muscles, tendons, ligaments, fat, skin, membranes) transparent and dyeing mineral tissues (teeth and bones) in order to visualize the latter in a living organism.
This technique is used by students of biology of the Autonomous University of the State of Mexico (UAEMéx), as part of their scientific training, because it is useful in studies of comparative anatomy and embryology and for the detection of heavy metals in the skeleton of living organisms, especially in fish making it possible to identify pollution and its effects on Waterbodies.
Due to its practicality and low cost, blocking can replace anatomical dissections for the study of morphological, biochemical, or functional changes from the comparison of congenital abnormalities of bone system development among different animal models.
And on the TikTok account diaphanizaciones skelly, students of the Faculty of Science at UAEMéx show that science is cool and fun, posting the results of exercises with aquatic animals, chameleons, centipedes, snakes, rodents, frogs and lizards.
Samples are obtained ethically, mostly through donations from veterinarians, and are less than 15 cm long, as this technique is not permitted for all species.
To achieve this effect, a highly corrosive alkaline solution of potassium hydroxide is used, which dehydrates the tissue through a redox reaction, while the exposed mineralized tissue is stained with dyes, usually red for bony tissue and blue for bony tissue. cartilaginous