ABSTRACT
Post-mortem changes in the proximal and distal tubules of rat kidneys left in situ have been studied at the light microscope and ultrastructural levels. The distal tubular nuclei showed distinct changes which were completely different from the usual nuclear appearances after death and resemble the changes seen in apoptosis. These observations suggest that the unusual changes in the autolytic distal tubular nuclei may be due to the activation of endogenous endonucleases.
Subject(s)
Autolysis/pathology , Kidney Tubules/ultrastructure , Animals , Cell Nucleus/ultrastructure , Epithelium/ultrastructure , Kidney Tubules, Distal/ultrastructure , Kidney Tubules, Proximal/ultrastructure , Lysosomes/ultrastructure , Male , Microscopy, Electron , Mitochondria/ultrastructure , Mitochondrial Swelling , Nuclear Envelope/ultrastructure , Rats , Rats, Inbred Strains , Time FactorsABSTRACT
A simple, rapid, economic and reliable method was used for visualization of internal structure of soft tissues by fracturing paraffin embedded samples at room temperature. The same sample which was used for light microscopy was then fractured for SEM. Most of the cellular and extracellular details are exposed without any need of special equipment. The technique preserves the architecture of tissues and can be used in routine diagnostic pathology.
