Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gbm5v Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-27T12:48:32.787Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Transillumination Possibility of Imidazole–Osmium Postfixed Tissue and Its Consequences for the Handling of Tissue Samples

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 January 2005

Tilman Voigt  and
Wolfgang Dauber
Tilman Voigt
Affiliation:
Institute of Anatomy, University of Fribourg, Rte. Albert-Gockel 1, CH-1700 Fribourg, Switzerland
Wolfgang Dauber
Affiliation:
Institute of Anatomy, Eberhard-Karls-University Tuebingen, 72074 Tuebingen, Germany
Get access

Abstract

Osmium postfixation is established as a routine procedure for transmission electron microscopy (TEM). On the one hand, this routine procedure leads to good results for TEM, but on the other hand results in blackened tissue samples that do not allow examination of any structures within the embedded tissue sample by a light microscope. Equivalent fixation results for TEM are achieved with imidazole–osmium postfixation, and with this postfixation method tissue is not blackened and can be transilluminated with point light sources. This allows easier recognition of histological details within tissue samples and makes it possible to screen embedded samples for appropriate ultrastructural processing. Jejunum is used to demonstrate the method.

Keywords

imidazoleosmiumfixationtechniqueelectron microscopylight microscopyjejunum
Type
BIOLOGICAL APPLICATIONS
Information
Microscopy and Microanalysis , Volume 11 , Issue 1 , February 2005 , pp. 42 - 45
Copyright
© 2005 Microscopy Society of America

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Angermüller, S. & Fahimi, H.D. (1982). Imidazole-buffered osmium tetroxide: An excellent stain for visualization of lipids in transmission electron microscopy. Histochem J 14, 823–835.Google Scholar
Goldberg, M. & Septier, D. (1984). Demonstration of lipids by imidazole-buffered osmium tetroxide in the odontoblasts and cells of the enamel organ in the rat incisor. J Biol Buccale 12, 317–330.Google Scholar
Reynolds, E.S. (1963). The use of lead citrate at high pH as an electron-opaque stain in electron microscopy. J Cell Biol 17, 208–212.Google Scholar
Richardson, K.C., Jarett, L., & Finke, E.H. (1960). Embedding in epoxy resins for ultrathin sectioning in electron microscopy. Stain Technol 35, 313–323.Google Scholar
Thiéry, G., Bernier, J., & Bergeron, M. (1995). A simple technique for staining of cell membranes with imidazole and osmium tetroxide. J Histochem Cytochem 43, 1079–1084.Google Scholar
Voigt, T., Dauber, W., Bensemann-Ryvkin, I., & Härtel, X. (2002). Increasing membrane contrast by means of imidazole–osmium post-fixation as exemplified by skeletal muscle fiber. Microsc Res Technol 58, 121–124.Google Scholar
Voigt, T., Dauber, W., Bensemann-Ryvkin, I., & Härtel, X. (2003). The shape and the position of the sarcoplasmic reticulum and the Golgi apparatus in the sole plate and the remaining subsarcolemmal muscle region of the mouse using imidazole–osmium staining. Microsc Res Technol 61, 419–422.Google Scholar