title: A survey to assess the ultrastructural preservation of fixed biological samples after air-drying from tetramethylsilane.
abstract: A scanning electron microscope (SEM) survey assessed the quality of ultrastructural preservation of a wide range of tissues from the laboratory rat and from a limited number of botanical and fly-larval samples, air-dried from tetramethylsilane (TMS) after chemical fixation and dehydration. Comparisons were made with critical point drying (CPD) and air-drying from acetone. CPD produced good results in all cases. TMS gave acceptable results with 75%, and acetone with 31%, of rat tissues. Air-drying was unacceptable for the botanical and fly-larval samples. It is concluded that air-drying from TMS is generally useful for mammalian tissues in preparation for the SEM.
authors.affiliation: Electron Microscopy Department, University College, Cork, Ireland.
authors.forename: W J
authors.initials: WJ
authors.lastname: Reville
authors.forename: M M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Heapes
authors.forename: V R
authors.initials: VR
authors.lastname: O'Sullivan
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D046508:Culture Techniques; D004175:Diptera; D007814:Larva / Q000648:ultrastructure; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008855:Microscopy, Electron, Scanning / Q000379:methods; D010944:Plants; D011309:Preservation, Biological / Q000379:methods*; D051381:Rats; D012821:Silanes; D016707:Tissue Fixation; D014297:Trimethylsilyl Compounds
chemical_list: D012821:Silanes; D014297:Trimethylsilyl Compounds; C073196:tetramethylsilane