title: Brief communication: state of preservation of tissues from ancient human remains found in a glacier in Canada.
abstract: Ancient remains preserved in glaciers present a unique opportunity for us to advance our knowledge of human origins, diversity, and health, a central focus of anthropological studies. Cellular components of hard and soft tissue from frozen human remains dated between 1670 to 1850 cal AD recovered from a glacier in Canada were studied. Despite the expected ice crystal damage in some samples, regions of recognizable structure and ultrastructure were observed. We found that the state of preservation was tissue specific and that in some tissues the organelles were better preserved than in others. Skeletal, connective, nervous, and epithelial tissues were recognizable in some of the samples. DNA had been previously extracted from these remains and this study illustrates that the ability to successfully extract DNA may correlate with good preservation of histology.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia V6T 1Z3, Canada. vmonsalve@pathology.ubc.ca
authors.forename: Maria Victoria
authors.initials: MV
authors.lastname: Monsalve
authors.forename: Elaine
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Humphrey
authors.forename: David C
authors.initials: DC
authors.lastname: Walker
authors.forename: Claudia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Cheung
authors.forename: Wayne
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Vogl
authors.forename: Mike
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nimmo
mesh_terms: D001842:Bone and Bones / Q000473:pathology / Q000648:ultrastructure; D002170:Canada; D003094:Collagen / Q000032:analysis / Q000648:ultrastructure; D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial / Q000737:chemistry; D004848:Epithelium / Q000473:pathology / Q000648:ultrastructure; D006801:Humans; D046448:Ice Cover; D009106:Mummies / Q000473:pathology*; D009132:Muscles / Q000473:pathology / Q000648:ultrastructure; D010525:Peripheral Nerves / Q000473:pathology / Q000648:ultrastructure; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA
chemical_list: D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial; D003094:Collagen