Cryo Ultramicrotomy of Biological Samples and Polymers

Abstract Introduction Cryo Ultramicrotomy gains increasing importance for immunocyto- and immunohisto- chemistry, element analysis, morphological studies and other investigations. Major advances in immunocyto-chemistry and the sectioning of frozen hydrated specimens have been realized with the appropriate instrumentation and tools (1,2). In immuno-electron microscopy it has been found that a considerable reduction of structural damage in tissue and cells can be obtained with a modified sectioning and pick-up method using sucrose/methyl cellulose solution (3, 4). In recent years various scientists have tried to understand cryo sectioning and the problems related to the cry-osectioning process (5, 6, 7, 8). A promising attempt to eliminate one of the major artefacts in ultramicrotomy, that of compression", was made with the development of the oscillating diamond knife (9). In polymer research cryo ultramicrotomy is a well established technique. However, only little information is available about the the cryo sectioning process for the following reasons: Much cryo sectioning is performed in polymer companies.