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Cryo-Fracture or Freeze-Fracture, a Method to Expose Internal Tissue Surfaces and Cell Surfaces for Viewing in the Scanning Electron Microscope

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 March 2018

Jeannette Taylor
Jeannette Taylor*
Affiliation:
Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia
*
[email protected]

Extract

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Cryo-fracture, in conjunction with critical point drying is a method used to prepare biological samples in order to expose, for viewing via scanning electron microscopy, those naturally occurring surfaces which might otherwise remain obscure. For example, the Bowman’s capsule and tubules of a kidney, tiny blood vessels on any organ, inter-cellular spaces in liver or alveoli in the lungs. Also, some surfaces, not normally exposed at all such as the membrane surface of a nuclear envelope, mitochondria or chloroplasts or the cytoplasm of a cell, can be brought to light with this method. Herein is a review of the development of cryo-fracture and how it is currently used at our facility.

Type
Research Article
Information
Microscopy Today , Volume 16 , Issue 4 , July 2008 , pp. 56 - 59
Copyright
Copyright © Microscopy Society of America 2008

References

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