COMBINED LECTIN-BINDING AND PAS ALCIAN BLUE STAINING IN GLYCOL METHACRYLATE SECTIONS

Evaluation of cryofixation and paraffin and glycol methacrylate embedd ing showed that lectin binding was essentially independent of the embe dding medium. Fluorescence intensity increased in the following order: glycol methacrylate, paraffin and cryostat sections. The optical reso lution increased in the reverse order. Semithin glycol methacrylate se ctions provided satisfactory fluorescence intensities and the best res olution of all embedding techniques applied. Furthermore the lectin tr eated sections can be stained further using routine histological or sp ecific histochemical methods. The potassium hydroxide/alcian blue/peri odic acid-phenylhydrazine-Schiff method was used successfully to demon strate sulfated and nonsulfated sialomucins. Lectins combined with muc in histochemistry allowed visualization of specific sugar residues in the same glycol methacrylate plastic section.