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Ionic liquid enables simple and rapid sample preparation of human culturing cells for scanning electron microscope analysis
Author(s) -
Ishigaki Yasuhito,
Nakamura Yuka,
Takehara Teruaki,
Nemoto Noriko,
Kurihara Takayuki,
Koga Hironori,
Nakagawa Hideaki,
Takegami Tsutomu,
Tomosugi Naohisa,
Miyazawa Shichiro,
Kuwabata Susumu
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
microscopy research and technique
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.536
H-Index - 118
eISSN - 1097-0029
pISSN - 1059-910X
DOI - 10.1002/jemt.20924
Subject(s) - ionic liquid , scanning electron microscope , reagent , sample preparation , materials science , ionic bonding , ionic conductivity , analytical chemistry (journal) , chemical engineering , chemistry , nanotechnology , chromatography , ion , composite material , organic chemistry , electrolyte , engineering , catalysis , electrode
Ionic liquid is a kind of salt that stays in a molten state even at room temperature. It does not vaporize at all in vacuum and facilitates electrical conductivity to the sample surfaces for observations with a scanning electron microscope (SEM). In this study, we used an ionic liquid in SEM for the first time to observe fixed human culture cells. The condition for the cell culture using wrapping sheets and SEM settings were varied to elucidate the optimized protocol. Compared to samples prepared by the conventional way, the ionic liquid‐treatment of samples gave SEM images of the cellular ultra structures in more detail, enabling observation of microvilli that made bridges between separated cells. In addition, the ionic liquid treatment is less time consuming as well as less laborious compared with the conventional way that includes dehydration, drying, and conductivity treatments. Totally, we concluded the ionic liquid is a useful reagent for SEM sample preparation. Microsc. Res. Tech., 2011. © 2010 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.