Saland L C, Napolitano L M
J Histochem Cytochem. 1977 Apr;25(4):280-6. doi: 10.1177/25.4.404353.
Cholesterol can be preserved in tissues dehyrated for light microscopy by incorporating digitonin into glutaraldehyde fixation. Fresh and fixed frozen sections of rat sciatic nerve exhibit strong, radially positive birefringence when viewed with polarized optics. However, tissue fixed and dehydrated with standard methods for Epon embedding shows very weak radially positive birefringence. The use of digitonin with a variety of techniques generally permits retention of optical activity in embedded nerves. Such observations suggest a preservation of lipids (presumably cholesterol) in molecular orientations necessary to produce Maltese cross patterns.
通过将洋地黄皂苷加入戊二醛固定液中，胆固醇可在用于光学显微镜检查的脱水组织中得以保存。用偏振光观察时，大鼠坐骨神经的新鲜和固定冷冻切片呈现出强烈的、径向正双折射。然而，用用于环氧树脂包埋的标准方法固定和脱水的组织显示出非常微弱的径向正双折射。在各种技术中使用洋地黄皂苷通常能使包埋神经中的光学活性得以保留。这些观察结果表明，脂质（可能是胆固醇）以产生马耳他十字图案所需的分子取向得以保存。
