A comparison of microwaves and heat alone in the preparation of tissue for electron microscopy.

Microwaves have been used to stabilize tissues from the gastrointestinal tract for scanning electron microscopy. The temperature reached is important. Above 55-60 degrees C, epithelial cell sheets begin to lift revealing the underlying basement membrane. These cells may be recovered from the supernatant by micropore filtration or the celloidin sock technique. At higher temperatures, produced either by microwave irradiation or in a water bath, more enterocytes are released. The epithelial cells are larger with increasing temperatures, less with microwaves than with heat alone or in the presence of formaldehyde. At 70 degrees C and above, some proteins are lost and there is false localization of RNA. Some immunoperoxidase reactions are still positive after exposure of the tissue to 60 degrees C. Tissues fixed in boiling formaldehyde retain a surprisingly good morphology.