Artifacts in ultrastructure of respiratory cilia caused by various fixation procedures and different types of...

The ciliary ultrastructure with different fixatives and buffer combinations and artifacts caused by handling the specimens was studied in samples from respiratory mucosa. After different standard fixatives the ciliary ultrastructure did not vary much. Glutaraldehyde in cacodylate gave the best result; the contrast was good and the cell membrane did not show undulation and so many blebs as with other fixatives. With old 4% formaldehyde + 1% glutaraldehyde inphosphate the cytoplasm was darker and the contrast was not as good as with a fresh fixative. Mechanical damage caused rupture of the cell membrane and sometimes changes in axonemal architecture. These findings are similar to those often seen in human samples. The axonemal architecture was always intact if the cell membrane was intact.