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Polyvinyl alcohol coating: an improvement of the freeze‐fracture technique
Author(s) -
Brown Dennis
Publication year - 1981
Publication title -
journal of microscopy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.569
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1365-2818
pISSN - 0022-2720
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2818.1981.tb01225.x
Subject(s) - polyvinyl alcohol , coating , glycerol , fracture (geology) , composite material , materials science , replica , biomedical engineering , chemical engineering , chemistry , organic chemistry , medicine , art , visual arts , engineering
SUMMARY A modification of the freeze‐fracture technique, involving the coating of tissues with polyvinyl alcohol (Vinol) prior to freezing, is described. This results in substantial improvements over the more conventional method in which material is cryoprotected and frozen in buffered glycerol alone. The high vacuum is produced more rapidly and can be better than in the absence of vinol and the speed of replica recuperation is greatly increased.