Enzyme histochemistry of undecalcified bone and cartilage embedded in glycol methacrylate

Undecalcified bone and cartilage tissue blocks were fixed for 3 h in cold formol-calcium, rapidly dehydrated with a graded series of cold ethanol, and embedded in glycol methacrylate. 2 mum sections were produced with a Sorvall JB-4 microtome using glass knives. The quality of the sections were usually excellent except for hard bone from old subjects where the bone sometimes shattered while sectioning. This method is short, relatively uninvolved and eliminates en bloc decalcification. Moreover, the method is gentle enough to allow the histochemical demonstration of alkaline and acid phosphatase by the azo dye methods, and acid phosphatase, 5'-nucleotidase and ATPase by the lead precipitation methods.