摘要：

Polarization microscopy is a very important microscopic method for the study of biological objects. It allows us to observe biological specimens not only fixed but also native, fully vital, and without staining. Our new modification of the method of polarization microscopy with partial rotation of the compensator is particularly suitable for the detection of birefringent structures on permanent fixed histological specimens, stained and embedded in mounting medium. The principle is that we insert the studied object (specimen) between crossed polarizers, and set the quartz compensator of the first order with a partial rotation to 5° to 15° (plus or minus from the basic position). Compared to the conventional technique with the setting of a compensator at 45°, we achieve a significantly higher contrast of the image in the microscope and, subjectively, a higher resolution (light structures on a dark background). The subject shines intensely with red or blue color on a dark background. The method was tested on permanent histological lung specimens of human and rhesus macaque monkeys (Macaca mulatta), where we observed difficult-to-detect birefringent elastic fibrils. It was found that the thinnest bundles of elastic fibrils in the monkey lung artery were 1.5 × thicker than the thinnest bundles of elastic fibrils in the human lung artery. We found birefringent structures also in other human tissues, such as in elastic cartilage, aorta, artery, myocardium, bone, and tooth. From the identified birefringence of the studied structures, we can deduce their chemical composition, or regular arrangement of particles, so-called shape birefringence.

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