In situ embedding method of cells grown in beem capsules for immunoelectron microscopic studies of oncornaviruses

A technique of in situ embedding of cells grown in BEEM capsules has been devised for immunoelectron microscopic studies of oncornaviruses. As compared to other immunoelectron microscopic procedures, this technique is less time and reagent-consuming. The quality and specificity of this method were tested on well-characterized mouse mammary tumor virus (type B virus) and murine sarcoma virus (type C virus particles). This method gave good results in labeling of the virus particles with ferritin or peroxidase in the cells of mouse tissue cultures. In an application of this method, peroxidase labeling of type B virus particles was obtained in frozen sections of normal prostatic tissues of C3H/Dm and A/Dm strain mice treated with rabbit antiserum to mouse mammary tumor virus from A/Dm strain mouse milk. These results indicate that this method is useful and reliable for immunoelectron microscopy studies of oncornaviruses in tissue culture cells and also in frozen sections of tissues.