Crucial factor causing collapse and aggregation of cultured cells in epon resin

Ultrastructural artifacts regarding collapse and aggregation of cultured cells have been problematic, especially when investigated apoptotic cells. The infiltration process during sample preparation is considered to be the most crucial factor for this problem. This study was conducted using two culture systems: a suspension culture system of human T-lymphocyte Jurkat cells and rabbit mature dendritic cells and a monolayer culture system of human lung macrophages, human breast cancer cells (A-546 cells) and cat bone-invasive gingival cancer cells (sccf3 cells). Fixation was conducted prior to removing or detaching the cells from the culture dishes. Initial infiltration with a 1 : 3 volume ratio of epon resin : propylene oxide was found to be the most crucial step among these cultured cells. The improved epon-resin infiltration method could eliminate the artifacts. Thus, differentiation between artifactual images and true images is highly possible.