Freeze-fracture of biological specimens prior to conductive staining

Liver, kidney, spleen and other organs of the rat were fixed with glutaraldehyde, substituted with absolute ethanol or dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO), freeze-fractured in liquid nitrogen, stained by the rapid tannin-osmium thiocarbohydrazide-osmium (TaOTO) method (staining with each agent for 10 min), critical-point-dried with liquid carbon dioxide, and observed with the scanning electron microscope. The absolute ethanol or DMSO freeze-fracture method provided flat fracture surfaces (without regard to cell boundaries) of the samples and allowed a good visualization of their inner structures. The fracture surfaces were suitably stained by the rapid TaOTO method, and could be scanned with no charging. Neither maked damage nor undesired dislocation of tissue elements was noted on the freeze-fractured and TaOTO-stained surfaces. This procedure, freeze-fracture prior to conductive staining, has an advantage of eliminating the bulk charging effects that tend to occur in specimens fractured after staining. When substituted with 75% DMSO aqueous solution, the samples spontaneously fractured without any need for razor blades. Fracture planes in this spontaneous fracture sometimes ran along the cell boundaries and allowed a clear visualization in the SEM of the enfaced surfaces of closely associated cells such as hepatocytes.