Electron staining of synaptic vesicles using the Champy-Maillet technique

IRALDI, AMANDA PELLEGRINO; SUBURO, ANGELA MARIA

JOURNAL OF MICROSCOPY-OXFORD

WILEY-BLACKWELL PUBLISHING, INC

Año: 1970 vol. 91 p. 99 - 103

0022-2720

Synaptic vesicles from rat pineal nerves can be stained by Champy-Mailletmixtures containing osmium tetroxide and a soluble iodide. Two componentsof the vesicle (the matrix and the dense core) are revealed in a different waydepending on at least two factors: the iodide employed and the final pH of themixture. We have tried the following mixtures: zinc iodide at pH 5.5 (ZIO),cadmium iodide at pH 6.0 (CIO) and potassium iodide at pH 7.2 (KIO-7) orpH 5.5 (KIO-5). The matrix is more reactive with ZIO, while the dense core ismore reactive with CIO and especially with KIO-7. With the only difference of alower pH, KIO-5 stains the whole matrix of some vesicles and also reveals sometubular structures which are more frequently found in preterminal axons.