Chemical Drying: Biological Sample Preparation for Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM)
Published: April 30, 2023
Abstract
Source: Koon, M. A., et al. Preparation of Prokaryotic and Eukaryotic Organisms Using Chemical Drying for Morphological Analysis in Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). J. Vis. Exp. (2019).
Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) is a powerful tool to image—primarily—the surface features of a biological sample. Proper sample preparation, however, is critical to obtaining quality images. This video focuses on the dehydration and drying steps of preparing intact adult Drosophila for SEM.
Protocol
This protocol is an excerpt from Koon et al., Preparation of Prokaryotic and Eukaryotic Organisms Using Chemical Drying for Morphological Analysis in Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), J. Vis. Exp. (2019). 1. Preparation and Fixation Prepare Drosophila melanogaster (fruit fly). Anesthetize adult flies using 100% carbon dioxide. Place anesthetized adults (about 10 to 30 flies) in a small plastic screw cap vial or 1.5 mL cen…
Materials
| Silver conductive adhesive 503 | Electron Microscopy Sciences | 12686-15 | |
| aluminum weighing dish | Fisher Scientific | 08-732-100 | |
| aluminum mounting stubs (12 mm) | Electron Microscopy Sciences | 75210 | |
| aluminum mounting stubs (25 mm) | Electron Microscopy Sciences | 75186 | |
| Adhesive tabs | Electron Microscopy Sciences | 76760 | |
| conductive carbon adhesive tabs | Electron Microscopy Sciences | 77825 | |
| Polyethylene glycol tert-octylphenyl ether (Triton X-100) | VWR | 97062-208 | |
| Hitachi 3400N-II SEM | Hitachi | https://www.hitachi-hightech.com/us/product_list/ | The company doesn't appear to sell this model any longer |
Cite This Article
Chemical Drying: Biological Sample Preparation for Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). J. Vis. Exp. (Pending Publication), e20111, doi: (2023).