Water Containing Epon 812/815 Embedding Method for Electron
Microscopy
The special types of epoxy resins such as Durcupan or Quetol 651 have been used as water-miscible embedding media for electron microscopy hitherto. However, difficulties exist in handling of these resins, especially in thin-sectioning. We have developed a method of polymerization of the conventional epoxy resins, Epon 812, 815 (Shell Co.) and Luveak 812 (Nakarai Co.) in the presence of water. The authorsl) previously reported melamine resins as water-containing embedding media which have been recently sold by Nakarai Co. as Luveak A and B. The melamine resins as well as aldehyde or urea resins have atypical electron staining. The water-containing epoxy resins embedding method in this report provides usual electron staining and facile sectioning like as the traditional Epon embedding method. Negatively stained micrograph in part is obtained in this method (Fig. la).