In Situ Embedding of Cell Monolayers on Untreated Glass Surfaces for Vertical and Horizontal Ultramicrotomy.

Abstract

Untreated glass is the ideal supporting substrate for cell cul¬ture growth since it is extremely flat and smooth, transparent and insoluable in organic solvent. However, difficulties have been encountered in removing polymerized epoxy resin from a glass surface following in situ cell monolayer embedment. Vari¬ous techniques have been made to grow cell cultures on either coated glass surfaces or plastic substrates. The purpose of this abstract is to describe a heat separation technique which when used together with a newly designed embedding mold allows cell monolayers to be transferred from untreated coverglass or glass slide to pre-shaped tissue blocks. The resulting tissue block can be easily separated and used directly for orientation light microscopy prior to ultramicrotomy.