Fixation of vervet monkey oral mucosa for ultrastructural investigation--TEM

This study was undertaken to determine optimal fixation procedure for vervet monkey (Cercopithecus pygerythrus) oral mucosa. Perfusion and immersion fixation were investigated using glutaraldehyde and glutaraldehyde-paraformaldehyde fixatives with either a phosphate or sodium cacodylate buffer as vehicle and with osmolarities varying from 2010 to 320 mosm. Good fixation could not be obtained uniformly or consistently by perfusion. Vervet monkey oral mucosa is best fixed by first perfusing the head and neck of the animal with 250-500 ml 0.9% saline containing Procaine-HCl and heparin, followed by decapitation and immersion of the head in a 2.5% glutaraldehyde: 2% paraformaldehyde: 0.02 M sodium cacodylate buffered fixative (900 mosm) at 4 C for 24 hr.