Scanning electron microscopy of protoplasts isolated from gametophytes of the fern Pteridium—I. preparative methods
✍ Scribed by S.M. Attree; E. Sheffield
- Book ID
- 103915586
- Publisher
- Elsevier Science
- Year
- 1984
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 627 KB
- Volume
- 15
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0739-6260
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
✦ Synopsis
A comparative study was made of three scanning electron microscope (SEM) preparative techniques applied to protoplasts of the fern Pteridium aquilinum. All methods required removal of osmoticum and hence prior fixation, but single fixation, in glutaraldehyde or osmium tetroxide, or doublefixation, using both, resulted in similar final appearances. The conventional techniques of freeze-drying (FD) and critical-point drying resulted inshrinkage and in many FD preparations gross distortion oftopography. Cryopreservation resulted in no significant shrinkage and no apparent distortion of topography, and can therefore be regarded as a suitable means for SEM observation of protoplast detail in the absence of dehydration artefacts.