Synopsis
The evidence available to date for the importance of fixative osmolarity is considered together with some observations on the volume changes of crab axons after fixation by osmium tetroxide and glutaraldehyde. The results obtained are compared with those obtained from crab axons and from amphioxus skin cells which had been processed and examined with the electron microscope after initial fixation in fixatives of different composition. It is concluded that the osmolarity of the fixative vehicle is of considerable importance when the fixing agent is glutaraldehyde but is of less importance when the fixing agent is osmium tetroxide or a mixture of the two agents.
Preliminary observations upon crab axons fixed with glutaraldehyde in a vehicle approximating to the internal composition of the cells suggest that this approach to the design of fixative vehicles may be useful.
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Bone, Q., Ryan, K.P. Osmolarity of osmium tetroxide and glutaraldehyde fixatives. Histochem J 4, 331–347 (1972). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01005008
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01005008