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Comparative study of hydrophilic and hydrophobic ionic liquids for observing cultured human cells by scanning electron microscopy
Author(s) -
Ishigaki Yasuhito,
Nakamura Yuka,
Takehara Teruaki,
Kurihara Takayuki,
Koga Hironori,
Takegami Tsutomu,
Nakagawa Hideaki,
Nemoto Noriko,
Tomosugi Naohisa,
Kuwabata Susumu,
Miyazawa Shichiro
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.21001
Subject(s) - scanning electron microscope , ionic liquid , chemical engineering , tetrafluoroborate , materials science , conductivity , chemistry , analytical chemistry (journal) , nanotechnology , chromatography , organic chemistry , composite material , engineering , catalysis
An ionic liquid (IL) is a salt that remains in the liquid state at room temperature. It does not vaporize under vacuum and imparts electrical conductivity to samples for observation by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Recently, the usefulness of ILs has been widely recognized. In our previous study, one of the ILs 1‐ethyl‐3‐methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate (EtMelm + BF 4 − ) was used for SEM analysis of biological samples. In comparison with the conventional method, samples prepared using EtMelm + BF 4 − provided more detailed SEM images of the cell ultrastructure, enabling the observation of protrusions. In addition, the IL treatment is a less time consuming and simple method that does not include dehydration, drying, and conductivity treatments, which are an essential parts of the conventional method. In this study, we compared the usefulness of four hydrophobic and three hydrophilic ILs for SEM to observe fixed cultured human A549 cells. All ILs worked well to prevent “charge‐up” effect for SEM observation. However, the hydrophilic ILs tended to provide clearer images than the hydrophobic ILs. We concluded that various ILs can be used for SEM sample preparation and their application to a wide range of fields is anticipated in future. Microsc. Res. Tech., 2011. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.