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The use of sucrose solutions as suspending media for preparation of tissue homogenates and subsequent centrifugal fractionation has become a widely accepted procedure. Recently, it has been claimed that addition of colloids to the medium results in better preservation of the morphological and enzymic integrity of the isolated fractions (4,8,15). Such media also have valuable applications during the preparation of tissues for eytochemical staining procedures.Brief mention has already been made elsewhere * Supported in part by grants from the British Empire Cancer Campaign. ~ Received for publicalion, Augusl 2l, 1959.(11, 13) of the value of cold formol-calcium fixation, followed by impregnation with 0.88 • sucrose containing 1 per cent gum acacia ("gum-sucrose') at 0-2°C., for the preservation of esterases in tissues, and for facilitating the cutting of thin frozen sections. Results are now described which indicate that this procedure affords better preservation of esterases, acid phosphatase, and phospholipid than certain alternative procedures currently used for staining experiments, and that better morphological preservation is also obtained, as judged by the light microscope. In addition, enzymic activity can be preserved for very long periods when the fixed tissues are stored in cold gum-sucrose.

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