Improved specimen support cups and auxiliary devices for the Balzers high pressure freezing apparatus.
A new design for interlocking specimen support cups that permits reliable and reproducible freezing under high pressures of a range of different biological specimens is described. A stronger holder in which the support cups are tightly held during pressurization and freezing, and a sliding wedge for separating the cups after freezing are also described. Used in conjunction with the Balzers HPM 010 high pressure freezing apparatus, these modifications permit routine freezing of tissue for freeze-fracture and freeze-substitution for electron microscopy.
Department of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology, University of Colorado, Boulder 80309.
S
S
Craig
J C
JC
Gilkey
L A
LA
Staehelin
D005614:Freeze Fracturing / Q000295:instrumentation*; D008854:Microscopy, Electron; D011312:Pressure