Polyethylene glycol embedded tissue sections for immunoelectronmicroscopy.

Several methods for tissue embedding in polyethylene glycol (PEG) were compared with regard to their applicability for pre-embedding immunoelectronmicroscopy. Existing embedding procedures gave unsatisfactory results and therefore a modified procedure was developed. This method, consisting of very brief tissue infiltration with PEG 1500, to which 3% water is added, allowed adequate tissue sectioning. Using these sections for preembedding immunoelectronmicroscopical localisation of glucagon in bovine pancreatic islets adequate ultrastructural morphology was obtained in combination with excellent preservation of peptide hormone immunoreactivity.