Demonstrates that platinum blue effectively stains bacteria for microscopy, suggesting a viable alternative to uranyl acetate.
Uranyl acetate has been extensively used as a superb staining reagent for transmission electron microscopy of biological materials. However, the use and purchase of radioactive uranyl acetate have been restricted. An alternative stain to uranyl acetate for immunoelectron microscopy of acrylic resin (Lowicryl K4M) -embedded samples has not been available in bacteriology. In this study, we established a staining method of using an aqueous solution of platinum blue (Pt-blue) for staining of bacteria for immunoelectron microscopy. Immunostained ultrathin sections of bacteria were stained with Pt-blue followed by lead citrate and compared them with those conventional stained with uranyl acetate. Pt-blue showed almost the same staining quality as uranyl acetate, and it provided good contrast of the bacterial cell wall and cytoplasmic structure without any loss of immunogold particles labeled on the ultrathin section. This is the first study demonstrating that Pt-blue can be used as an alternative to uranyl acetate for staining of ultrathin sections of bacteria for immunoelectron microscopy.
No takes yet. Share an insight, caveat, or question.
Fujioka et al. (2018) studied this question.
Synapse has enriched 5 closely related papers on similar clinical questions. Consider them for comparative context: