Life-like Preservation of Cytoplasmic Detail in Plant Cells

BIOCHEMICAL and physiological data from plant material are reported frequently as the amount or activity of matter per ceil, yet remarkably few such studies are made directly on the cells. Thus, for example, in a large number of publications on the chemistry and physiology of cell differentiation, very few have included any cytochemical investigations. That this is a general phenomenon is due, very largely, to the fact that no method exists by which plant cells may be investigated both for structure and for chemical activity, without the introduction of gross artefacts1. Animal cytology has advanced more rapidly because of the technique which involves freezing and drying the tissues, which are then embedded directly in paraffin wax and sectioned2. The wax is removed with xylol and the cells are fixed in absolute alcohol. This procedure has failed when applied to plant cells; moreover, the use of fat solvents is to be avoided at any stage.