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Electron microscopy stains designed for staining lipids to provide contrast to the specimen using osmium tetroxide. These electron microscopy stains dissolve in fats, and are reduced by organic materials to elemental osmium (i.e., an easily visible black substance). Osmium tetroxide stains should have excellent stability when kept cold and in the dark; they have also corrosive and irritant properties. Some of these stains can produce either a positive or a negative stain. Osmium tetroxide stains are used widely in transmission electron microscopy (TEM) to provide contrast to the image, in scanning electron microscopy (SEM), fixing biological samples, and in optical microscopy to stain lipids.
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