Method of Producing Flat Skin and Skeleton Specimens of Laboratory Mice for Exhibition at a University Museum

We manufactured flat skin and skeleton specimens of laboratory mice in response to a request from Shimane University Museum. Since diminutive species such as rodents have very small bones, previous methods for making specimens of them involve tedious procedures and require too much labor and time. In this study, we established an easier approach by using sodium hypochlorite and denture cleanser. Our method is not only very simple and thus saves labor and time, but can also keep many bones articulated throughout the making of specimens. This paper describes the series of procedures involved, such as the removal of flesh from a sample, dissolution and removal of fat using sterilizing medical liquid, decoloration using hydrogen peroxide, and shaping and drying. Our method should also be available for the making of hard bone skeleton specimens of vertebrate animals.