SCANNING ELECTRON MICROSCOPIC OBSERVATIONS OF BIOLOGICAL SECTIONS CUT ON A “VIBRATOME” AND INCUBATED IN MEDIA FOR ATP-ASE AND ALP-ASE ACTIVITY

SEM APPEARANCE OF THE VIBRATOME SECTIONS

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The suitability of non-frozen sections, cut with a Vibratome, for cytochemistry was examined with a scanning electron microscope.
Sections, 10μ to 50μ in thickness, were prepared from unfixed tissue or tissue fixed with perfusion of glutaraldehyde solution. They were incubated in Wachstein-Meisel medium for ATPase or in Mayahara-Ogawa medium for ALPase. The sections were dehydrated and dried under vacuum or with the critical point drying method.
The surface of sections prepared from fresh tissue which was fixed after sectioning often was coated with blood cells and extracellular fluid.
Judging from the SEM appearance, the Vibratome sections were comparatively uniform in thickness but had fine chatter marks on their surface while sections cut on a Tissue Sectioner were irregular in thickness but provided topographic areas where SEM examination was not imparied by knife marks.
Deposits of lead-phosphate were conspicuous on the surface of the incubated tissue from duodenum but not on the cut surface of the section. Irregularly distributed aggregates of precipitate were also a common finding on the surface of the tissue but not on the cut surface.