ABSTRACT
Most of the casts are of vessels and intercellular spaces, i.e., filaments with a diameter between 5 and 400 µm. The mechanical properties of the elastomer make it the only casting agent that makes it possible to obtain a very long and rather strong filament, provided the degassing apparatus is long enough. The different parts of each clean cast are arranged on transparent supports following the anatomical characters of the tissue samples, in order to facilitate later, extensive examinations. Glass slides or larger Perspex plates are used depending on the cast sizes. When the liquid film dries, the casts stick to their support and to one another. Some drops of the wetting solution must be added whenever they need to be manipulated again. For optimal conditions of observation under magnifying glass and light microscope, transparent wetted supports are placed over a mirror and illuminated by means of optical fibres at a 45° angle.
