Application of the thiocarbohydrazide method for vicinal glycol group detection to the study of gastric mucosa endocrine cells

The influence of embedding media and fixation on the post-embedment ultrastructural demonstration of complex carbohydrates. I. Morphology and periodic acid-thiocarbohydrazide-silver proteinate staining of vicinal diols

The influence of fixation and embedding medium on the periodic acid-thiocarbohydrazide-silver proteinate (PA-TCH-SP) staining reactivity in the mouse intestine was studied. It was found that the combination of osmium tetroxide and epoxy resins was the least sensitive for the demonstration of complex carbohydrate with the PA-TCH-SP method. Post-osmication reduced, but did not abolish, PA-TCH-SP reactivity (except for the Golgi complex) when non-epoxy resins were used. The staining pattern of a particular organelle differed depending on the embedding medium used. Golgi cisternae exhibited the most intense PA-TCH-SP reactivity in non-osmicated tissues embedded in non-epoxy resins. Post-osmication of tissues was required to reveal the fine structure of the glycocalyx as well as to preserve the fine structure of tissues embedded in styrene-methacrylate and styrene-Rigolac 2004. The choice of fixation procedures and embedding media in a given study should be governed primarily by the sites of interest.

A simple impregnation technique for thin and semithin enterochromaffin cells in sections

Constant, intense and precise impregnation of enterochromaffin (EC) cells was achieved simply by floating thin or semithin sections of gut mucosa, fixed in osmium tetroxide or in glutaraldehyde with postfixation in osmium, on a silver nitrate or proteinate solution. EC cells alone showed impregnation in the light microscope. In the electron microscope, impregnation affected not only the secretory granules of EC cells but also, although much more faintly, those of other, non-EC cells (D, X, D1, G and other cells). Lysosomes also showed partial or total reactivity. Oxidation reduced but did not entirely suppress EC cell staining and had no effect on non-EC endocrine cell staining. Since the reaction did not occur with glutaraldehyde alone, osmium appeared to be a crucial component of the process. These findings should be borne in mind in applying Thiery's method for vicinal glycol groups to the type of study material used in these experiments.