Plastic Embedding and Sectioning of Plant Tissues

Abstract

Plastic (resin) embedding provides exclusively improvements to cellular definition compared to paraffin embedding. The combination of strongly cross-linking paraformaldehyde with glutaraldehyde and post fixed with OsO4 is the fixative of choice for high-resolution light microscopy and electron microscopy. For this reason, this method is an ideal tool for visualizing plant cellular morphology and phenotype.