• Applied Microscopy
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.299-306
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• 1998

T-butyl alcohol (TBA) freeze-drying method originally designed by Inoue and Osadake (1989) was adopted to dry specimens for scanning electron microscopy and the results were compared with those dried using critical point dryer (CPD). Small pieces $(1\times1\times3mm)$ of liver of Sprague-Dawley rats were cut and fixed in 2% glutaraldehyde in 0.1 M sodium cacodylate buffer after anesthesia, and processed for scanning electron microscopy by several modifications of TBA freeze-drying methods and by the standard preparation method using CPD. The bile canaliculi and sinusoidal endothelial surface were observed. Tissue dehydrated with TBA before TBA freeze-drying preserved the structures best comparable to those prepared with CPD. This result suggests that combination of dehydration with TBA and TBA freeze-drying is a superior method to the original TBA freeze-drying method dehydrated with ethanol.