In order to examine the ultrastructure of biological specimens by electron microscopy it is necessary to stabilize the highly labile cellular contents before embedding and sectioning the specimens. This is commonly achieved by treating the tissues with various chemical fixatives. The assessment of the efficacy of these fixative is usually based upon the appearance of the specimen under the microscope although this is somewhat intuitive as the ultrastructure of the living cell cannot be studied. Previous studies, in which the structure of epidermal hairs has been followed under the light microscope as the commonly used fixatives are perfused into the tissue, have shown that the cellular contents are drastically rearranged by these fixatives. This paper describes the effects of some of the commonly used fixatives on cell ultrastructure using firstly electron microscopy and secondly soft x-ray contact microscopy. The latter technique allows not only direct comparisons of the effects of the fixatives but also allows living, hydrated specimens to be imaged so that the true ultrastructural effects of the fixatives can be seen and compared to the ultrastructure of the living material.

Date Published: 13 January 1993
PDF: 12 pages
Proc. SPIE 1741, Soft X-Ray Microscopy, (13 January 1993); doi: 10.1117/12.138751

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 1741:
Soft X-Ray Microscopy
Chris J. Jacobsen; James E. Trebes, Editor(s)