Histological control of specimen selection for electron microscopy

Abstract

SUMMARY This technique enables small specimens for electron microscopy to be obtained from specific zones of large pieces of tissue. The method depends on the use of frozen sections, for localization of histological features, but circumvents the risk of ice‐crystal damage to the specimens selected.

The use of the ‘tissue sectioner’ in selecting histological features for electron microscopical study

“…Also the tissue is irreversibly embedded. An alternative approach (Tarin & Spencer, 1969) is to use a frozen-section technique to recognize histological features on either side of a 1 mm slice of tissue which is subsequently processed and embedded intact. This method has advantages of both speed and simplicity but the tissue in the frozen blocks is no longer available for ultrastructural study and it is still necessary to section the embedded 1 mm slice to determine its exact morphology.…”