Minassian H, Huang S
J Microsc. 1979 Nov;117(2):243-53. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2818.1979.tb01180.x.
An electron microscopic study was carried out to examine the quality of ultrastructural preservation of parenchymatous and mesenchymatous tissues and isolated cells fixed in glutaraldehyde with sodium azide (NaN3) as an additive. The dense tissues fixed with conventional glutaraldehyde containing calcium chloride demonstrated only a narrow zone of good tissue preservation on the surface of the specimens. Addition of azide at a concentration of 0.1% greatly improved the cellular preservation in the deeper region of tissues, in particular with respect to the mitochondrial morphology. There was no adverse effect on other cell organelles. The improvement in mitochondrial preservation and the enhancement of penetration of the fixative is presumably due to selective and instantaneous inhibition of mitochondrial metabolic activity by the azide, thus retarding anoxic degenerative effects on cellular structures until permanent fixation is completed by the comparatively slow-acting aldehyde. However, the addition of azide offers no significant improvement in the ultrastructural preservation of isolated lymphocytes and liver cells, or fibroblasts maintained in culture.
进行了一项电子显微镜研究，以检查用含有叠氮化钠（NaN₃）作为添加剂的戊二醛固定的实质组织、间充质组织和分离细胞的超微结构保存质量。用含有氯化钙的传统戊二醛固定的致密组织在标本表面仅显示出狭窄的良好组织保存区域。添加浓度为0.1%的叠氮化物极大地改善了组织深层区域的细胞保存，特别是在线粒体形态方面。对其他细胞器没有不利影响。线粒体保存的改善和固定剂渗透的增强可能是由于叠氮化物对线粒体代谢活性的选择性和瞬时抑制，从而延缓了对细胞结构的缺氧退行性影响，直到相对缓慢起作用的醛完成永久固定。然而，添加叠氮化物对分离的淋巴细胞、肝细胞或培养的成纤维细胞的超微结构保存没有显著改善。
