Advances in corrosion casting methods

This paper briefly discusses the concept of corrosion cast preparation (primarily of blood vessels), the use of the scanning electron microscope (SEM) to study these casts and the observations which can be made, together with the merits and the limitations in various applications. A number of reviews and surveys are quoted in which the different injection media, injection methods, animal preparations and corrosion procedures are described. A new procedure of cleaning the corrosion casts with sodium hydroxide and Triton X-100 is described. The observations which can be made are listed and illustrated both on the cellular level as well as in organ systems as a whole. The discussion centers around some common misconceptions, the feasibility in various applications and the limitations of the method. The conclusion is that the method has proven to be useful especially in conjunction with other methods. Moreover, while the concept of the method may be very straight-forward the approach and the interpretation often need careful consideration and might not be as straight-forward as one tends to expect from the simple sounding principle.