Use of potassium pyroantimonate in the localization of sodium ions in rat kidney tissue.

Potassium pyroantimonate added to fixative solutions has been used in tissue localization of sodium ions. The distribution and specificity of the resulting precipitate in rat kidney is described in this study. Two reproducible patterns of precipitate were obtained in control tissues. The first pattern, which occurred after fixation in solutions containing aldehyde, showed the precipitate to be mainly extracellular. The second pattern, showing the precipitate in both intracellular and extracellular locations, occurred after aldehyde fixation in those experimental situations favoring cellular swelling or after fixation with solutions containing osmium tetroxide. It appeared that sodium ions could move after fixation but that sodium pyroantimonate precipitate could not. Since model systems demonstrated that dense precipitate formed when potassium pyroantimonate was added to solutions containing certain biological amines or some divalent cations, it appeared likely that the reagent did not provide specific tissue localization for sodium ions.