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A fixative (preservative) for proteins and phosphoglycerides that is used in the preparation of biological material for light microscopy and electron microscopy. It is fat soluble and is reduced to black osmium dioxide by unsaturated fats. Saturated fats in a specimen may be dissolved out in dehydration or embedding, the blackened unsaturated fats remaining. It is therefore used to stabilize and stain cell constituents. Often a preparation is prefixed with glutaraldehyde and post-fixed with osmium tetroxide to increase the extent of preservation.
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