An evaluation of the usefulness of air-drying biological samples from tetramethylsilane in preparation for scanning electron microscopy.

A survey was done, using a limited number of animal, plant and insect samples, to evaluate the quality of structural preservation obtained when chemically fixed tissue is air-dried from tetramethylsilane (TMS). Comparisons were made with critical point drying (CPD) and air-drying from acetone (Controls). CPD samples showed good structural preservation in all cases. For some animal tissue, TMS and Control samples showed structural preservation comparable to CPD. In other animal tissues the order of structural preservation was CPD greater than TMS greater than Controls. Air-drying caused gross distortion in the botanical samples.