Rapid Preparation of Thick Sections of Fleshy Plant Tissues

Abstract

Methods are described for permanent micro-slide preparations of soft, large-celled plant tissues such as ripe fruit. Thick sections (200–800 [t) cut on a sliding microtome are aspirated in an aqueous killing agent; after fixing and washing, the sections are dehydrated and cleared in an alcohol-xylene series. Infiltration with 20, 30, and 40% solutions of mountant prior to mounting the sections is necessary to avoid too abrupt changes in the cleared tissues. Several staining methods have been successfully used for different purposes. The final preparations showed nearly perfect preservation of intact cells and intercellular spaces in their 3-dimension-al structure.