Summary
Following perfusion fixation of rat brain with hydroxyadipaldehyde a greater extracellular space can be observed in electron micrographs than in similar studies of tissue fixed with glutaraldehyde. This increased space cannot be reduced to normal size by a variation of the osmolality of the perfusion medium, by an alteration in the height of the perfusion column, or by the use of a physiological buffer in the perfusion medium. Therefore the size of the extracellular compartment is believed to be due to a chemical effect of the fixative compound upon cell membranes and/or intracellular protein. The possible relationship of this larger space to the extracellular space of living animals is discussed.
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This investigation was supported by grants U-1293 from the Health Research Council of the City of New York and (NB 04161-02) from the National Institute of Neurological Diseases and Blindness of the National Institute of Health. — The author wishes to thank Mr. Samuel Greenblatt, and Miss Mary Lou Dufty for their technical assistance, and Miss Carol Strauss for the preparation of the manuscript.
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Torack, R.M. The extracellular space of rat brain following perfusion fixation with glutaraldehyde and hydroxyadipaldehyde. Zeitschrift für Zellforschung 66, 352–364 (1965). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00334717
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00334717