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Direct measurement of the osmotic effects of buffers and fixatives in Nitella flexilis
Author(s) -
Taylor Douglas P.
Publication year - 1988
Publication title -
journal of microscopy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.569
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1365-2818
pISSN - 0022-2720
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2818.1988.tb04588.x
Subject(s) - turgor pressure , plasmolysis , fixative , biophysics , osmotic pressure , chemistry , glutaraldehyde , cytoplasmic streaming , nitella , vacuole , chromatography , botany , biology , biochemistry , cell wall , cytoplasm
SUMMARY The pressure probe has been used to investigate the amount and time course of changes in turgor induced by agents used in fixation of biological material for electron microscopy. All buffers tested decreased the turgor pressure of internodal cells of the green alga Nitella flexilis in proportion to their osmotic concentration. With the exception of s‐collidine, the buffers were impermeant, as shown by the stability of the reduced turgor. The fixatives formaldehyde and glutaraldehyde caused a rapid reduction in turgor followed by recovery of turgor as the aldehyde penetrated the cell. Plasmolysis of cells can be avoided by a procedure involving stepwise increase of fixative concentration.