Ultrathin Sectioning
Ultrathin Sectioning - Related Videos
09:46
A Method for Obtaining Serial Ultrathin Sections of Microorganisms in Transmission Electron Microscopy
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Cited by 15 •
2018
This study presents reliable and easy procedures for obtaining serial ultrathin sections of a microorganism without expensive equipment in transmission electron microscopy.
03:30
Snap Freezing of Muscle Tissue for Sectioning: A Protocol to Obtain Ultrathin Sections of Rapidly Frozen Murine Muscle Tissue
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2023
This video describes the procedure for snap freezing muscle tissue and obtaining its thin sections. The technique can help study cancer-related cachexia in colon cancer mouse models.
10:08
Fabrication of Large-area Free-standing Ultrathin Polymer Films
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Cited by 10 •
2015
We describe a method for the fabrication of large-area (up to 13 cm diameter) and ultrathin (as thin as 8 nm) polymer films. Instead of using a sacrificial interlayer to delaminate the film from its substrate, we use a self-limiting surface treatment suitable for arbitrarily large areas.
01:30
Ultrastructural Analysis of Demyelination in Mouse Spinal Cord Cross-Sections
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2025
The disease triggers autoreactive immune cells to attack myelin proteins, degrading the myelin sheath surrounding neuronal axons.
01:50
Cross-Sectional Research
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2020
In cross-sectional research, a researcher compares multiple segments of the population at the same time. If they were interested in people's dietary habits, the researcher might directly compare different groups of people by age. Instead of following a group of people for 20 years to see how their dietary habits changed from decade to decade, the researcher would study a group of 20-year-old individuals and compare them to a group of 30-year-old individuals and a group of 40-year-old...
FAQs
Fixation, dehydration, and resin embedding are sequential preparation stages that make biological tissue suitable for ultrathin sectioning. Fixation precedes dehydration, while embedding places the specimen in a resin block that can be shaved by an ultramicrotome. This sequence converts an intact sample into sections thin enough for transmission electron microscopy, linking preparation to nanoscale structural imaging.
In ultrathin sectioning, knife choice and section thickness determine the specimen format available for examination. An ultramicrotome uses a diamond or glass knife to shave slices typically tens of nanometers thick. These cutting tools produce sections thin enough for transmission electron microscopy, allowing cellular details to be examined at a resolution unavailable with light microscopy.
The principal distinction is the scale of structural detail that the preparation supports. Ultrathin sectioning produces nanometer-scale slices for transmission electron microscopy, whereas the overview identifies cellular structures that light microscopy cannot resolve. This makes the technique appropriate when research requires direct examination of fine features such as vesicles, organelles, synapses, or myelin layers.
Neural samples prepared this way can expose synaptic junctions, the organization of axons and dendrites, myelin layers, vesicles, and organelles. Examining these features at high resolution helps connect visible cellular architecture with questions about neural connectivity and cell ultrastructure. It also provides a structural basis for investigating neurodegeneration or tissue changes associated with disease and experimental treatments.
The workflow begins by fixing the biological specimen, followed by dehydration and resin embedding. An ultramicrotome then uses a diamond or glass knife to shave sections typically tens of nanometers thick. The resulting slices are collected on grids and examined with transmission electron microscopy, creating a continuous preparation pathway from tissue processing to ultrastructural imaging.
The central setup includes a fixed, dehydrated specimen embedded in resin, an ultramicrotome, and a diamond or glass knife. After cutting, the sections are collected on grids for transmission electron microscopy. Each component has a defined role: resin supports the specimen, the knife produces the thin slices, and the grids hold them for imaging.
In neuroscience, this approach supports studies of neural connectivity, cellular ultrastructure, neurodegeneration, and structural changes caused by disease or experimental treatments. Its value comes from linking high-resolution images of synapses, axons, dendrites, myelin, vesicles, and organelles with broader questions about how nervous tissue is organized and how that organization changes.