A SIMPLE FREEZE-FRACTURE REPLICATION METHOD FOR ELECTRON MICROSCOPY

A simple method to achieve results similar to the freeze-etching technique of Moor et al. (1961) is described. The frozen tissue is cut under liquid nitrogen with a razor blade outside the evaporator rather than inside with a cooled microtome. The conditions of the experiment do not favor sublimation, and it is proposed that the structure of the replica be explained by local faults in the cleavage plane which leaves structures, such as membranes, standing above the ice. Micrographs of replicas of glycerol-protected frozen small intestine of mouse prepared by the method are presented and the structural details they show are discussed. The problem of vapor-deposited contamination is discussed. It is concluded that this is a practical method for obtaining electron micrographs that are relatively free of artifact, and that further improvements may be expected from the use of rapidly frozen fresh tissue and a clean vacuum system, possibly of the ion-pumped type.

• Publication year

  1966

• Venue

  Journal of Cell Biology

• Publication date

  1966-06-01

• Fields of study

  Biology, Medicine, Materials Science

• Identifiers
  DOI 10.1083/JCB.29.3.435PMID 5962938PMCID 2106967
• External record

  Open on Semantic Scholar

• Source metadata

  Semantic Scholar, PubMed

• No claims are published for this paper.

• No concepts are published for this paper.

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