Summary
The reactions between osmium tetroxide and glutaraldehyde and formaldehyde were investigated. It was found that they react together to form intermediate products which then break down to form osmium black. Glutaraldehyde reacts much more rapidly with osmium tetroxide than formaldehyde. The rates of the reactions are increased by increasing the glutaraldehyde concentration or adding bovine serum albumin to the reaction mixture. The reaction rates increase with temperature. The mixtures of fixatives were also tried on tissues and the results paralleled the model experiments. The crosslinking of bovine serum albumin by osmium tetroxide, formaldehyde and glutaraldehyde singly and in mixtures was quantitatively assessed by viscosimetry, gel filtration and disc electrophoresis coupled with densitometry. The crosslinking of bovine serum albumin by pairs of fixatives was less than that produced by the most effective of the pair. After 5 min reaction osmium tetroxide was the most effective crosslinking agent according to viscosimetric experiments, but after one hour's reaction with bovine serum albumin, glutaraldehyde was revealed as the most effective crosslinking agent by gel filtration and electrophoresis.
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Hopwood, D. The reactions between formaldehyde, glutaraldehyde and osmium tetroxide, and their fixation effects on bovine serum albumin and on tissue blocks. Histochemie 24, 50–64 (1970). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00310003
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00310003