A Comparison of Standard Lipid Staining Techniques Used in Electron Microscopic Studies of Mammalian Tissues

Comparisons of several standard techniques for staining lipids in ultrastructural studies have been undertaken using the rat uterine epithelium as the experimental tissue. The best technique for clarity, retention of stain, and acceptability of cellular ultrastructure utilized p-phenylenediamine after primary fixation in glutaraldehyde and postfixation in osmium tetroxide. While osmium by itself stained only unsaturated lipids and p-phenylenediamine stained no lipids in spot tests, when acting together, the staining of unsaturated lipids was enhanced and some staining of saturated lipids was seen. Further, the marked extraction of stained lipids normally found during dehydration did not then occur.