The staining properties of tissue mast cells are influenced by the method of fixation. Differences in fixation and staining techniques may explain the contradictory results in the published reports on the number of human mucosal mast cells (MMC) in the gastrointestinal mucosa in health and disease. We have examined the influence of fixatives on the staining properties of human MMC in operative ...

Sims, David E., and Margaret M. Horne. Heterogeneity of the composition and thickness of tracheal mucus in rats. Am. J. Physiol. 273 (Lung Cell. Mol. Physiol. 17): L1036– L1041, 1997.—Inability to preserve airway mucus in situ has limited our understanding of its structure and function. This lightand transmission electron-microscopic study of rat tracheal mucus used a nonaqueous fixative that r...

The heating performance of prototype variable power control units attached to two domestic microwave ovens, 500 W and 700 W, was investigated. The units employed the phase control method where rated voltage was obtained by switching AC supply at a particular angular position on the sinusoidal voltage. In order to create experimental conditions employed in a previous study, Sydney tap water (50 ...

AIMS To adapt the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technique of HIV detection to paraffin wax embedded brain tissue and to compare the results with those obtained using frozen tissue. METHODS HIV antigen and HIV proviral DNA were detected in specimens of frontal lobe using immunohistochemistry and PCR, respectively. DNA was extracted from fresh tissue using standard methods whereas the techniq...

Among the techniques which have been reported to stain the surface coat of cells, for electron microscopy, is lanthanum staining en bloc. Similarly, the presence of the cationic dye, Alcian blue 8GX, in a primary glutaraldehyde fixative has been reported to improve the preservation of the surface coat of cells of many types; however, the preserved coat is not very electron opaque unless thin se...

Preservation of original tissue dimensions is an essential prerequisite for morphometric studies. Shrinkage occurring during tissue processing for histology may severely influence the appearance of structures seen under the microscope and stereological calculations. Therefore, shrinkage has to be avoided so that estimates obtained by application of unbiased stereology are indeed unbiased. The p...

A major methodological problem in the intracellular localization of cholesterol is the nearly complete extraction of sterols during routine dehydration and embedding procedures for electron microscopy. Cholesterol digitonide (a sterol complex with digitonin), however, is qualitatively insoluble in these solvents. Mouse liver has been prepared as follows: (a) Flickinger's aldehyde fixative, 20 h...

Correspondence: Christian Garbar Department of Biopathology, Institute Jean Godinot, 1 avenue General Koenig BP 171, 51056 Reims Cedex, France Tel +33 3 2650 4266 Fax +33 3 2650 4274 Email [email protected] Abstract: In Europe, the alternative centrifuge method of liquid-based cytology is widely used in cervical screening. Turbitec (Labonord SAS, Templemars, France) is a centr...