Transmission Electron Microscopy of Endothelium.

Transmission electron microscopy using resin sections still remains an exceptionally useful tool in evaluating cellular ultrastucture within tissue. For the endothelium the best method for maintaining such structure is perfusion fixation: fixing the tissue under physiological pressure. Here the focus is on a method of maintaining the vascular wall structure including the endothelial glycocalyx and extending this with tilt series tomography. Shown are typical histological sections from multiple capillary beds including brain, heart and retina using a lanthanide staining technique (LaDy GAGa) to highlight that the differences in normo-physiology are substantial.It is hoped that users will find the notes useful in deciding which specific staining and imaging method would suit their needs so this technically challenging, and low throughput methodology, is used to its best effect.