Mounting Pollen on a Thermoplastic Adhesive for Scanning Electron Microscopy

A heat-sensitive adhesive, Tempfix®, developed for scanning electron microscopy of powders and small particles, provides consistently high-quality secondary imaging with a variety of pollen grain morphologies and preparation protocols. Tempfix® was used successfully under all combinations of these c...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Transactions of the American Microscopical Society 1994-01, Vol.113 (1), p.72-79
Main Authors: Chissoe, William F., Vezey, Edward L., Skvarla, John J.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adhesives
Biological and medical sciences
Conductivity
Electrons
Ethanol
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
General aspects, nomenclature, methods, herbaria
Plant cytology, morphology, systematics, chorology and evolution
Pollen
Room temperature
Scanning electron microscopy
Solids
Specimens
Thermoplasticity
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Summary:A heat-sensitive adhesive, Tempfix®, developed for scanning electron microscopy of powders and small particles, provides consistently high-quality secondary imaging with a variety of pollen grain morphologies and preparation protocols. Tempfix® was used successfully under all combinations of these conditions: (1) pollen air-dried from ETOH or artificially dried; (2) pollen transferred to naked or sputter-coated Tempfix®; and (3) pollen transferred to solid (at room temperature) or tacky (40-43° C) Tempfix®. In contrast to other adhesives, Tempfix®: (1) does not react with the dehydration fluid ethanol; (2) permits control of depth of pollen penetration into the adhesive; (3) provides a high pollen retention rate with both air-dried and artificially dried preparations; and (4) has a smooth glassy background.
ISSN:0003-0023
2325-5145
DOI:10.2307/3226581