Handling Cell Culture Monolayers for Transmission Electron Microscopy

Abstract

In our Core Facility, we are presented with a wide variety of tissue and sample types to process for TEM observation. Some tissues, such as liver, do not present orientation problems. Other tissues such as skeletal muscle have specific orientations that must be maintained. As long as the initial dissection of the tissue is done so that the orientation or area of interest can be identified, these samples do not present a problem. Likewise, when it is not necessary to maintain orientation, cells in culture can be treated with trypsin, to release them from the plate, and pelleted. Or the monolayer can be fixed in vitro and then scraped and pelleted, and the pellet can be processed while adherent to the wall of the Eppendorf tube or handled like a small piece of tissue, among other methods.