• Applied Microscopy
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• v.41 no.1
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• pp.69-73
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• 2011

High-voltage electron microscope (HVEM) has higher resolution and penetration power than conventional transmission electron microscope that could be load thick specimen. Some researchers have taken this advantage of HVEM to explore 3-dimensional configuration of the biological structures including tissue and cells. Whole mount preparations has been employed to study some cell lines and primary culture cells. In this study, we would like to introduce useful whole mount preparation method for neuronal studies. The plastic coverslips were punched, covered by formvar membrane and coated with carbon. The neurons obtained embryonic 18 rat hippocampus were seeded on the prepared cover slip. The coverslips were fixed, dried in freeze drier and kept in a descicator until HVEM observation. We could observe detailed neuronal structures such as soma, dendrite and spine under HVEM without conventional thin section and heavy metal stain. The anaglyphic image based on stereo paired image ($-8^{\circ},+8^{\circ}$) provides three dimensional perception of the neuronal dendrites and their spines. This method could be applied to sophisticated analysis of dendritic spine under the various experimental conditions.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.35 no.9
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• pp.2625-2629
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• 2014

Platelets are anuclear discoid-shaped blood cells with key roles in human body. To understand the mechanisms of their activation process, it is required to have analytical imaging techniques capable of acquiring platelet images under fully hydrated conditions. Herein, for the first time, we demonstrate the capability of synchrotron-based transmission X-ray microscopy (TXM) to study platelets (resting and ADP activated) under hydrated and air-dried conditions. To confirm the biological imaging capability of TXM, fixed platelets were imaged and compared with whole mount electron microscopy (EM) images. TXM provided morphological information with sufficient spatial resolution with simple and quick sample preparation procedure. We also observed temporal changes during the platelet activation, which initially had a discoid shape (0 s), formed pseudopodia (30 s) and generated a network of fibrin (5 min). Our results clearly demonstrate the potential of TXM technique to study fully hydrated biological samples under in situ conditions.