Open AccessEffect of glutaraldehyde fixation on bacterial cells observed by atomic force microscopy
Author(s) -
Liu Bao You,
Zhang Guang Min,
Li Xue Ling,
Chen Heng
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
scanning
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.359
H-Index - 47
eISSN - 1932-8745
pISSN - 0161-0457
DOI - 10.1002/sca.20269
Subject(s) - glutaraldehyde , atomic force microscopy , bacteria , xanthomonas campestris , fixation (population genetics) , bacterial cell structure , bacillus subtilis , chemistry , pseudomonas syringae , gram , gram negative bacteria , pseudomonas , microscopy , microbiology and biotechnology , biophysics , biology , materials science , escherichia coli , nanotechnology , biochemistry , chromatography , optics , gene , genetics , physics
Abstract Atomic force microscopy (AFM) is a promising microscopy technique that can provide high‐resolution images of bacterial cells without fixation. Three species of bacteria, Xanthomonas campestris , Pseudomonas syringae , and Bacillus subtilis , were used in this study. AFM images were obtained from unfixed and glutaraldehyde‐fixed cells, and cell height was measured. The mean height of bacterial cells prepared by fixation was higher than that of those prepared by nonfixation. However, the height changes were different between Gram‐negative and Gram‐positive bacteria: the mean height of two fixed Gram‐negative bacteria, X. campestris and P. syringae , increased by 112.31 and 84.08%, respectively, whereas Gram‐positive bacterium, B. subtilis , increased only by 38.79%. The results above indicated that glutaraldehyde fixation could affect the measured height of cells imaged by AFM; further more, the effect of glutaraldehyde fixation on the measured height of Gram‐negative bacterial cells imaged by AFM seemed much more than on that of Gram‐positive bacterial cells. SCANNING 34: 6–11, 2012. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.