Is analysis of biological materials with nm spatial resolution possible?

Abstract

Cells are bounded by a membrane, the plasma membrane, subcompartments within cells are also delineated by membranes, these membranes contain transporters that regulate the flow of ions across them. Fluxes of ions across the membranes underlie many of the basic properties of living material such as excitability and movement. Breakdown of membrane function ultimately leads to cell death. EM microanalysis has been instrumental in gaining understanding of how changes in element distribution affect cell behaviour and cell survival. The main problem that biologists face in undertaking such studies is that of specimen preparation. Cells consist mainly of water that needs to be either removed or stabilised before analysis can take place. Cryotechniques, fixation by rapid freezing followed by sectioning at low temperatures and freeze-drying of the sections have proved to be a reliable method for the study of intracellular element concentrations. These techniques have been used to show that elements are confined in different compartments within cells and produced results to support a new theory on the mechanism by which neutrophils kill bacteria. They have also shown that disturbance of the ionic content of mitochondria is one of the first signs in the pathway to cell death.