title: Microwave-enhanced fixation of rabbit articular cartilage.
abstract: Cartilage, being highly aqueous, is difficult to preserve for electron microscopy without artefacts. Microwave-enhanced fixation is suggested as a standard method for block samples of this material, with dimensions of up to 12 x 7 x 3 mm. Cartilage samples from the tibial plateau of adult rabbits were fixed by conventional, cryo- or microwave-enhanced fixation. Constant or cyclical microwave irradiation of samples, immersed in fixatives, was carried out to varying final solution temperatures. Microwave-enhanced fixation and staining is shown to be both rapid and reproducible, giving fine structural preservation. Below 323 K microwave fixation always gave excellent preservation of the fine structure within seconds. At higher temperatures thermal artefacts were introduced. In this study the microwave-enhanced fixation is equal in quality to the test conventional immersion fixation and is nearly as fast as cryo-preservation. It provides a standardized, reproducible fixation for morphological studies on cartilage with good process control.
authors.affiliation: AO/ASIF Research Institute, Davos, Switzerland
authors.forename: R G
authors.initials: RG
authors.lastname: Richards
authors.forename: M J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Kääb
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001842:Bone and Bones / Q000648:ultrastructure; D002358:Cartilage, Articular / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D003094:Collagen / Q000648:ultrastructure; D005109:Extracellular Matrix / Q000648:ultrastructure; D005614:Freeze Fracturing; D005615:Freezing; D008855:Microscopy, Electron, Scanning / Q000379:methods*; D008872:Microwaves; D011817:Rabbits; D013696:Temperature; D016707:Tissue Fixation / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D003094:Collagen