Artifacts in Transmission Electron Microscopy - Sample Preparation Topic for Transmission Electron Microscopy - page 158

4.10 Artifacts Induced by the Cryofixation Technique

Fig. 6.42 Bright-field TEM
image of a rat liver cell slice
cryofixed using a projection
on cooled copper at 20 m

around the freezing front,
then freeze substitution in the
presence of osmium and
embedding at low
temperatures in resin. It
shows microstructural
changes due to the presence
of ice crystals throughout,
which disturb the
interpretation of the image.
The freezing was too slow
( J. Boumendil, CMEABG -
UCB Lyon 1 )

µ

nucleus

mitochondrion

500nm

Fig. 6.43 Bright-field TEM
image of a rat liver cell slice
cryofixed using a projection
on cooled copper and at about
10 m around the freezing

front, then freeze substitution
in the presence of osmium
and embedding at low
temperatures in Lowicryl
resin. Note the presence of
very small crystals of cubic
ice ( black arrows )inthe
nucleus. The microstructure
has been modified; however,
the image can still be
interpreted ( J. Boumendil,
CMEABG - UCB Lyon 1 )

µ

1µm