Good morning, if I want to look under microscopy at the cellular structure of different roots belonging to differents plants, is it better to fix them with formaldehyde or alcohol?
If you want to observe cell structure you have to fix with formaldehyde (4% in PBS pH 7.0-7.5 + 0.01% Triton X-100) and/or glutaraldehyde.
If you want to observe tissue structure Ethanol or Ethanol:Acetic 3:1 fixation is enough.
Using formaldehyde alone to fix plant sample is not advisable because it harden plant sample and make it brittle and so make it difficult to handle. FAA or 50% ethyl alcohol are preferable, even the percentage of alcohol and the volume of formaldehyde in the FAA also matter . A high percentage (concentration) of alcohol will make the sample hardened likewise high volume of formaldehyde will harden the sample.Usually a good composition of FAA can be as follows.
(1) 10mls of 40% formaldehyde
10mls of glacial acetic acid
80mls of 50% ethanol (ethyl alcohol)
(2) Just 50% ethyl alcohol will do a good job too.
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