The Location of Mucopolysaccharides on Ultrathin Sections of Bacteria by the Silver Methanamine Staining Technique

Abstract

S U M M A R YThe silver methanamine technique was used to locate mucopolysaccharides in ultrathin sections of bacteria. Polysaccharides were located along the cell wall and developing cross-walls in young vegetative forms and along the developing cortex in sporulating bacilli. The results are discussed in relation to morphological and chemical studies. I N T R O D U C T I O NThe details of sporulation and germination in bacteria have been extensively studied by the technique of ultrathin sectioning. Species studied include both those in the genus

The Location of Chemical Components on Ultrathin Sections of Bacillus cereus Embedded in Glycol Methacrylate

“…The results of silver staining confirm the location of polysaccharides previously found using osmic acid as a fixative (Walker & Short, 1968, 1969. The advantage of aldehyde fixation is that there is no possibility of reduced osmium playing a part in this reaction.…”

“…IN PREVIOUSLY REPORTED studies (Walker & Short, 1968, 1969 polysaccharides were located on ultrathin sections of Bacillus cereu~ and various clostridial species by means of the silver methaenamine staining technique. Staining was carried out on ultrathin sections of the organisms fixed with osmic acid and ernbedded in Maraglas, an epoxy resin.…”

Histochemical Study of a Dermatophyte Under an Electron Microscope

“…12). DISCUSSION While there have been histochemical demonstrations of late, at the electron microscopic level, of the neutral polysaccharide components in virus (43), bacterium (41), and several plant cells (14,28,29), there is little information in regard to fungal cells (5,38,40).…”

Ultrastructural localization of carbohydrates on thin sections of Staphylococcus aureus with silver methenamine and wheat germ agglutinin-gold complex

“…For the cytochemical labeling with silver methenamine, silver staining was performed by the method of Walker and Short (22). Briefly, the sections were put in a solution with or without 0.5% periodic acid for 20 min, washed twice with distilled water, and transferred to the silver solution.…”

“…Therefore, the labeling was considered to be due to N-acetylglucosamine of teichoic acid. The combination of two types of cytochemical techniques was useful to localize and characterize the carbohydrates of the bacterial cell.The silver proteinate and methenamine techniques have been used for the ultrastructural localization of carbohydrates in various tissues (3, 5) and bacteria (7,8,19,22) by postembedding staining. These techniques are based on oxidation of 1-2-ot-glycol bonds released by periodic acid (7,8).…”