It is difficult to use scanning electron microscopy to observe the structure and movement of biological tissue immersed in the solution. To enable such observations, we created a highly deformable and electron-transmissive polyimide film that can withstand the pressure difference between the high-vacuum electron column and the atmospheric-pressure sample chamber. With this film, we used scanning electron microscopy to measure the intrinsic fine structure and movement of the contractile fibers of excised mouse heart immersed in physiological solutions. Our measurements revealed that the excised heart is a dynamic tissue that undergoes relaxation oscillation based on a three-dimensional force balance.
Keywords: deformable and electron-transmissive film; electron microscopy of submerged samples; mechanical heart oscillation; real-time electron microscopy; sarcomeric oscillations; scanning electron microscope.
© The Author(s) 2022. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Japanese Society of Microscopy.