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Observations on the application to electron microscopy of the lead phosphate technique for the demonstration of acid phosphatase

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Summary

The effects of formaldehyde and glutaraldehyde fixation, preparation of frozen sections 50 μ thick, and incubation in Gomori medium for acid phosphatase on the appearance of parenchymal cells of mouse liver and of the cells of the proximal convoluted tubules of the rat kidney were studied by electron microscopy. Following these procedures very slight changes occurred in glutaraldehyde-fixed tissues, whereas the preservation of the tissue after formaldehyde fixation in general was inferior. A number of factors influencing the results of the Gomori lead phosphate method as applied to electron microscopy were studied and discussed, and a technique was described permitting precise localization and reproducible results on the ultrastructural level. The significance of the results was discussed in relation to presumed artifactual localizations and to the limitations on the significance of the findings caused by the effects of the preparatory procedures, with special reference to the fixation in aldehyde.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Armed Forces Institute of Pathology and the Veterans Administration Central Laboratory for Anatomic Pathology and Research, AFIP, Washington, D. C., USA

    L. E. Jan Ericsson & Benjamin F. Trump

  2. Department of Pathology at Sabbatsberg Hospital, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden

    L. E. Jan Ericsson & Benjamin F. Trump

  3. Department of Pathology, University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle 5, Washington, USA

    Benjamin F. Trump

Authors
  1. L. E. Jan Ericsson
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  2. Benjamin F. Trump
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Additional information

This investigation was supported in part by a research contract, Project Number DA 49-193-MD-2379 (MG 30.2084), from the Medical Research and Development Command, U. S. Army, Washington, D. C. 20315; by American Cancer Society Grant E-201; by the Swedish Cancer Society; and by the Board of Swedish Life Insurance Companies.

Dr. Ericsson was a fellow of the Dillon Fund in 1962, on temporary leave from the Karolinska Institute, when part of this study was performed.

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Jan Ericsson, L.E., Trump, B.F. Observations on the application to electron microscopy of the lead phosphate technique for the demonstration of acid phosphatase. Histochemie 4, 470–487 (1965). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00281900

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