Progression of fusion during rapid freezing for electron microscopy

J Microsc. 1979 Apr;115(3):243-56. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2818.1979.tb00176.x.

Abstract

The method used to determine the rate of fusion was based on the large difference in the dielectric constants of water and ice. A thin (50--60 micrometers) slice of a gelatin gel was used as the dielectric in a plate condenser. The slice was placed on a metal electrode built in a specimen carrier which was dropped on a silver freezing surface kept at below 70 K, forming the other plate of the condenser. Freezing of the gelatin causes a marked decrease in a 20,000 cycle current passing through the condenser. Since the thickness of the layer of frozen material was shown to be a function of the reciprocal of the current, it was possible to determine the course of fusion of the section. Freezing started at a high rate which declined during the first 5 ms but then increased again and usually became quite high at the end of fusion.

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Cartilage
  • Cerebral Cortex
  • Electric Conductivity
  • Freezing*
  • Gelatin
  • Histological Techniques*
  • Kinetics
  • Mathematics
  • Microscopy, Electron

Substances

  • Gelatin