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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
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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

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References

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