Use of the cytocentrifuge for electron microscopy investigations

A simple method of cytocentrifugally processing cell suspensions for conventional and histochemical investigations at the ultrastructural level is described. Fixed sediments from cell-poor suspensions are resuspended in an albumin-buffered solution. A few drops of the albumin cell solution are cytocentrifuged, leaving a cell disc on a plastic support. A brief dipping in a paraformaldehyde-glutaraldehyde mixture transforms the cell disc into a compact thin fragment attached to the plastic support. Cytocentrifugation of cell-rich suspensions, on the other hand, produces a thicker cell disc, which can be easily detached from the plastic slide. In both cases, the postfixation, dehydration and infiltration are directly carried out on the cell disc. The present method is particularly useful for the ultrastructural study of cell-poor suspensions and can also be performed on cell suspensions previously stained with several histochemical procedures.