A study has been made of the preservation of fine structure, phospholipids, and the activity of acid phosphatase and esterase in rat liver fixed in various solutions containing 4 per cent formaldehyde. Examination of methacrylate-embedded preparations shows that calcium-containing fixatives result in poor preservation of fine structure, whereas veronal-treated or phosphate-buffered formalin gives excellent results if the tonicity of the solutions is suitably adjusted by addition of sucrose. Formol-phosphate, to which Versene has been added, causes deterioration of cellular morphology. Phospholipids are retained almost quantitatively in tissue fixed in formol-calcium, and in phosphate-, collidine-, or triethanolamine-buffered formalin. About 50 per cent of the activity of acid phosphatase and esterase are preserved after 24 hours exposure to these fixatives at 0–2°C, and the distributions of the enzymes and of phospholipids, as judged by cytochemical staining results, are not altered by any of these formalin solutions. Consideration of the morphological and biochemical integrity of the fixed tissue suggests that 4 per cent formaldehyde, buffered at pH 7.2 with 0.067 M phosphate, and containing 7.5 per cent sucrose, is the most suitable of the fixatives for combined cytochemical staining and electron microscopical studies.
Article|
October 01 1961
STUDIES ON FORMALIN FIXATION FOR ELECTRON MICROSCOPY AND CYTOCHEMICAL STAINING PURPOSES
S. J. Holt,
S. J. Holt
From the Courtauld Institute of Biochemistry and the Bland-Sutton Institute of Pathology, Middlesex Hospital Medical School, London, England
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R. Marian Hicks
R. Marian Hicks
From the Courtauld Institute of Biochemistry and the Bland-Sutton Institute of Pathology, Middlesex Hospital Medical School, London, England
Search for other works by this author on:
S. J. Holt
From the Courtauld Institute of Biochemistry and the Bland-Sutton Institute of Pathology, Middlesex Hospital Medical School, London, England
R. Marian Hicks
From the Courtauld Institute of Biochemistry and the Bland-Sutton Institute of Pathology, Middlesex Hospital Medical School, London, England
Received:
February 07 1961
Copyright, 1961, by The Rockefeller Institute Press
1961
J Biophys and Biochem Cytol (1961) 11 (1): 31–45.
Article history
Received:
February 07 1961
Citation
S. J. Holt, R. Marian Hicks; STUDIES ON FORMALIN FIXATION FOR ELECTRON MICROSCOPY AND CYTOCHEMICAL STAINING PURPOSES . J Biophys and Biochem Cytol 1 October 1961; 11 (1): 31–45. doi: https://doi.org/10.1083/jcb.11.1.31
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