Some living eukaryotes during and after scanning electron microscopy

Abstract

Electron microscopy (EM) is an essential imaging method in biological sciences. Since biological specimens are exposed to radiation and vacuum conditions during EM observations, they die due to chemical bond breakage and desiccation. However, some organisms belonging to the taxa of bacteria, fungi, plants, and animals (including beetles, ticks, and tardigrades) have been reported to survive hostile scanning EM (SEM) conditions since the onset of EM. The surviving organisms were observed (i) without chemical fixation, (ii) after mounting to a precooled cold stage, (iii) using cryo-SEM, or (iv) after coating with a thin polymer layer, respectively. Combined use of these techniques may provide a better condition for preservation and live imaging of multicellular organisms for a long time beyond live-cell EM.

Keywords: Desiccation; Radiation; Scanning electron microscopy; Vacuum.