Rapid freezing of deep cerebral structures for electron microscopy.
A method is described for the investigation of deep cerebral structures by freeze-substitution. The head of a mouse is sectioned in a guillotine-like apparatus. The exposed surface is subjected to freeze-substitution. Electron micrographs prepared from this material exhibit under a layer of sheared tissue, a layer of tissue comparable with that observed previously in micrographs of the cerebral and cerebellar cortices subjected to freeze-substitution of their natural surfaces. By varying the plane in which the head is sectioned any structure in the brain can be made accessible to freeze-substitution.
D000818:Animals; D001921:Brain / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D001933:Brain Stem / Q000648:ultrastructure; D002525:Cerebellar Cortex / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000648:ultrastructure; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000648:ultrastructure; D005615:Freezing; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000648:ultrastructure; D006652:Histological Techniques; D006801:Humans; D007031:Hypothalamus / Q000648:ultrastructure; D008854:Microscopy, Electron; D013788:Thalamus / Q000648:ultrastructure