A Practical Technique for Electron Microscopy of Buffy Coats in Dogs and Cats

Plastic hematocrit tubes (PHTs) are convenient tools for electron microscopy (EM) of peripheral blood buffy coats, and the PHT-EM technique is expected to be a practical method for veterinary clinical medicine. In this study, fixatives composed of various concentrations of sucrose, glutaraldehyde, and phosphate buffer (PB) were tested for preparing canine and feline buffy coats. The highest quality images were obtained using a fixative consisting of 2.5% glutaraldehyde in 0.1 m PB, and it was concluded that this method allows clinicians who are inexperienced in histological techniques can conveniently transport buffy coat samples to diagnostic laboratories for analysis by EM.