Cereal Chem 56:462 - 464.  |  VIEW ARTICLE
Effect of Scanning Electron Microscopy Preparation Methods on the Ultrastructure of White Bread.

J. F. Chabot, L. F. Hood, and M. Liboff. Copyright 1979 by the American Association of Cereal Chemists, Inc. 

The effects of various microscopy preparation methods on the ultrastructure of white bread was evaluated. Unfixed specim ens were air, oven, or freeze dried. Other specimens were fixed with either glutaraldehyde and osmium tetroxide (OsO4) or OsO4 alone. After fixation, they were freeze dried directly, air dried at room temperature, or dehydrated with ethanol and freeze dried. The method of drying unfixed bread had little influence on structure. Unfixed bread had air cells coated with a relatively smooth, thin continuous protein layer in which starch granules were embedded. Exposure to buffers, fixatives, and dehydrating agents before drying caused alterations in the protein matrix and the liberation of starch granules from the matrix. The method of specimen preparation profoundly influenced bread structure.