Cryofixation
Cryofixation - Related Videos
08:53
Expansion Microscopy: High-Resolution Fluorescent Imaging with a Conventional Microscope
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Cited by 1 •
2025
Here, we present a detailed protocol combining cryo-fixation and expansion microscopy methods (Cryo-ExM), allowing for high-resolution imaging with structural preservation adapted to various biological samples. Biological samples are frozen, embedded in a swellable polymer, denatured, expanded, and immunolabeled, enabling super-resolution imaging with standard light microscopes.
08:44
Evaluating the Heat Transfer of a Spin-and-Chill
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2023
Source: Michael G. Benton and Kerry M. Dooley, Department of Chemical Engineering, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA The Spin-and-Chill uses heat transfer and fluid flow fundamentals to chill beverages from room temperature to 38 °F in as little as 2 min. It would take a refrigerator approximately 240 min and an ice chest approximately 40 min to achieve an equivalent temperature change. This is accomplished Spin and Chill by spinning a can or bottle at up to 500 rpm, which creates...
13:52
Studying the Supramolecular Organization of Photosynthetic Membranes within Freeze-fractured Leaf Tissues by Cryo-scanning Electron Microscopy
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Cited by 19 •
2016
Here we describe a procedure for studying freeze-fractured plant tissues. High-pressure frozen leaf samples are freeze-fractured and double-layer coated, yielding well preserved frozen-hydrated samples that are imaged using the cryo-scanning electron microscope at high magnifications with minimal beam damage.
14:53
In Situ Detection and Single Cell Quantification of Metal Oxide Nanoparticles Using Nuclear Microprobe Analysis
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Cited by 3 •
2018
We describe a procedure for the detection of chemical elements present in situ in human cells as well as their in vitro quantification. The method is well-suited to any cell type and is particularly useful for quantitative chemical analyses in single cells following in vitro metal oxide nanoparticles exposure.
FAQs
The rapid cooling interval limits the time available for molecules to diffuse, react, or reorganize before immobilization. This is especially important for unstable intermediates, fast reactions, and nonuniform interfaces, where even brief chemical or structural changes could alter the observed state. Millisecond-scale capture therefore improves confidence that nanoscale measurements reflect conditions close to those present before preservation.
Its effectiveness depends on water forming a glass-like, noncrystalline phase instead of damaging ice crystals. This state avoids the crystal-driven disruption that can rearrange structures or molecular distributions during cooling. Preserving water in this form helps maintain interfaces, colloids, and other chemically organized features for later electron microscopy, spectroscopy, or cryogenic examination.
Plunge freezing and high-pressure freezing are two approaches identified for rapidly cooling a sample. Their shared purpose is to achieve the very fast immobilization needed for preservation, while the overview does not assign a universal advantage to either route. The selected approach therefore provides a practical means of capturing the sample before diffusion or chemical change becomes significant.
After cooling, researchers may preserve the vitrified state through cryogenic analysis or use freeze-substitution before examination. Freeze-substitution provides a subsequent preparation pathway, whereas cryogenic analysis examines the preserved condition at low temperature. These options allow investigators to study structures and molecular distributions while retaining information that could be lost through slower handling.
The method is particularly relevant when chemistry depends on short-lived or spatially organized states. The overview identifies fast reactions, interfaces, colloids, and unstable intermediates as important examples. Capturing these systems before diffusion or reaction-driven changes occur can reveal transient arrangements that conventional observation after delay might no longer represent accurately.
Cryofixation can support observations of structures and molecular distributions that remain close to their native arrangement. In chemistry, this is useful for examining nanoscale and molecular-scale features in interfaces, colloids, reactions, and unstable intermediates. Electron microscopy, spectroscopy, and related cryogenic analyses can consequently provide measurements with improved reliability when preservation prevents post-sampling alteration.