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Updated: Jul 27, 2026

Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) Protocols for Problematic Plant, Oomycete, and Fungal Samples
Published on: February 3, 2017
Improved staining procedures for semithin epoxy sections of plant tissues
Abstract:
Improved and reliable methods are described for staining semithin sections of plant materials fixed in glutaraldehyde-osmium and embedded in epoxy resins. One-micron sections are fixed to slides, stained with a two-solution hematoxylin procedure or with a methylene blue-azure A combination, counterstained in aqueous safranin O, cleared, and mounted permanently. Basophilic tissue components are stained gray to black by the hematoxylin and blue or purple by the methylene blue-azure A combination; cell wall structures are colored by the safranin. With the procedures recommended, stains are sharp and intense, sections are flat, wrinkling and loss are held to a minimum, and unsightly precipitates do not form.
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