Summary
Fixation with acid-aldehyde (mixed aldehydes at pH 4 or 2, containing phosphate) produces dense granules or rods attached to the internal surfaces of the synaptic vesicle membranes at mossy fibre synapses and other synapses investigated. Post-fixation with osmium tetroxide is necessary to produce the granules. Neither uranyl nor lead are essential but the granules are better visualized by double staining. Presynaptic agranular reticulum also shows similar deposits. No explanation can be given at present, but it is clearly important that histochemists studying synapses should be aware of this phenomenon.
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Gray, E.G., Paula-Barbosa, M. Dense particles within synaptic vesicles fixed with acid-aldehyde. J Neurocytol 3, 487–496 (1974). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01098735
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01098735