Low-temperature scanning electron microscopy (ltsem) of frozen-hydrated lung

Abstract

The air-liquid interface of the airways and alveoli in the lung produces functionally significant surface forces. The configuration of this interface, however, is in question since electron microscope sample preparation methods generally remove tissue water. We have developed techniques to study the normal structure of mammalian lung in the frozen-hydrated state with water preserved as ice utilizing the low-temperature scanning electron microscope (LTSEM) of Pawley and Norton