Notizen: Electron Microscopy of Synaptonemal Complexes in Semithin Sections

Abstract

Abstract The technique of osmium tetroxide fixation followed by a treatment with p-phenylenediamine was applied to mouse testes in order to analyze pachytene nuclei. Observation of Epon semithin sections (0.25 - 0.5 μm) in conventional elec­tron microscopy revealed the presence of positively stained synaptonemal complexes surrounded by unstained chromatin. The present results show that by using this method a suitable contrast and resolution can be achieved for semithin sections, which facilitates the topographical study of synaptonemal complexes.