MODEL MMW-05 (5kW)

MUROMACHI MICROWAVE FIXATION SYSTEM    New !

Prior to analyses of 

Acetylcholine    Choline    Cyclic AMP    Cyclic GMP    GABA    DOPA   

5-HTP    Serotonin    Endorphin   

Catecholamines and their metabolites    Prostaglandin

Phosphorylated Proteins

INTRODUCTION

In neurochemical studies of the brain, it is of great importance to accurately measure neurochemical events in vivo. However, it is difficult to perform reproducible and meaningful measurement of these events because rapid post-mortem changes occur in the brain concentrations of several metabolites and some neurotransmitters.

Therefore, various techniques have been developed to prevent post-mortem changes. One of the more common method is cooling or freezing by immersion of the living animal and the decapitated head in liquid Nitrogen or cooled Freon to inactivate enzymes involved in the metabolism of these compounds. Although cooling is frequently used in many laboratories, it is not fully effective in preventing post-mortem changes. The time required to freeze deep structure of the brain may range from 10 - 90 seconds due to the poor thermal conductivity of tissues surrounding the brain; post-mortem changes will occur during this period.

An alternate method is microwave heating to inactivate enzymes. The method has several advantages over cooling or freezing :

If microwave power of sufficient level is focused on the animal's head, the enzymes in the whole brain can be completely inactivated in a very short time. Further, the brain can be dissected easily and reproducibly at room temperature.

Therefore, microwave irradiation system is quite useful when measuring Acetylcholine, Choline, Cyclic AMP, Cyclic GMP, GABA, DOPA, 5-HTP, Serotonin, Endorphin, Prostaglandin, Catecholamines and their metabolites and Phosphorylated Proteins in the brain .

Microwave fixation system must be such as to satisfy the following criteria:

1. Can elevate the temperature of brain up to 75-90ºC as rapidly as possible.

2. Can effectively focus microwave energy only on the head of an animal.

3. Will give the same results from animal to animal.

4. The apparatus should be easily and safely used since personnel not experienced in microwave technology will use it.

5. CE marked MMW-05 Muromachi Microwave Fixation Systems are safely designed so that the microwave leakage will not exceed 5mW/cm² which is the Japanese safety standard for home microwave ovens. Muromachi safety standard is less than 1mW/cm² .

New Features

1. All control of the instrument is through the Touch Panel Display located on the front panel of the machine.

2. Power level setting has become easier and more reproducible due to a digital setting.

3. Switching power supply has been employed in order to comply with line voltage fluctuation problem. Transformer is no longer required.
   When ordering, please specify either 3-Phase 190-240V 30amp or 380-440V 20amp.

4. From an environmental standpoint air-cooling method is employed. Water is no longer required for cooling.
   In this connection warm-up and cool-down period of time has become shorter.

5. It has become very much lightweight. The instrument net weight is only 103kg, less than half of the conventional model.

OUTLINE DRAWING

Water-Jacketed Animal Holders (Left:Rat Holder  Right:Mouse Holder)

Specifications are subject to change without notice.

Last Updated : August 17, 2010