LOSS OF LIPID DURING FIXATION FOR ELECTRON MICROSCOPY

Open Access
Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
Tritiated choline was injected inteaperitoneally into newborn guinea pigs and the rate of its incorporation into lung phospholipid was determined. Samples of lung containing labeled phospholipid were prepared for electron microscopy by fixation with 1 of 4 fixative schemes, followed by alcohol-propylene oxide dehydration and Epon 812 embedding. Losses of radioactivity were 66.9% of total radioactivity when fixed in s-collidine-buffered osmium tetroxide, 46.5% when fixed in 4% buffered formalin followed by osmium tetroxide, 39.0% when fixed in 2% glutaraldehyde followed by osmium tetroxide, and 51.3% when tricomplex fixation was employed. Although some of the radioactivity lost was water soluble, 9.9-37.8% of lipid-soluble radioactivity was lost during preparation for electron microscopy.

This publication has 7 references indexed in Scilit: