Applications of Soft X-Ray and other Microscopy Techniques to Elucidate the Structure of Parasitic Metazoa

Abstract

The small size of many parasitic organisms requires the use of election microscopy for adequate elucidation of their structure. While both transmission and scanning electron microscopy can provide complementary results which allow considerable degree of structural correlation, each technique has its inherent limitations. Since previous studies have demonstrated that soft X-ray microscopy could be used to study parasitic protozoa and provide new information, the objective of this study was to determine whether soft X-ray microscopy could also be used to elucidate the morphology of small metazoa to complement the data obtained by other microscopy techniques.Newborn larvae, approximately 7 μm × 110 μm in size, of parasitic nematode Trichinella spiralis were used as a model system. Some of the larvae, deposited by adult females maintained in vitro, were isolated and processed for examination by transmission and scanning electron microscopy as described in our previous studies, others were fixed in 4% glutaraldehyde (Millonig's buffer) and examined in the X-ray microscope XM-1, and in the BioRad MRC 1024 confocal laser (krypton/argon) microscope of the Advanced Light Source, Berkeley National Laboratory.