Abstract
With electron microscopic examination, the specific granules of rat peritoneal mast cells can be roughly divided into two types, i.e. compact and reticular granules. As previously reported, acid phosphatase (Acp) positive reaction was observed in the reticular granules but not in the compact ones. The reticular granules were Alcian Blue positive with Alcian Blue-Safranin staining. However, the correlation between the Acp positive granules and the Alcian Blue positive granules has not been established as yet. Rat peritoneal mast cells were collected from SD male rats. After the glutaraldehyde fixation and Acp reaction, the cells were post-fixed with osmium tetroxide and stained with the Alcian Blue-Safranin double staining method and the specimens were embedded in epon. Serial sections for electron microscopic and light microscopic examinations were compared with each other. The results showed that the Acp positive granules observed in the electron micrograph correspond exactly with the Alcian Blue positive granules observed in the light micrograph.
