The ultrastructure of the electric burn in man: a transmission electron microscopy-scanning electron microscopy study.

The authors describe the ultrastructural aspects of the electric burn observed with the transmission electron microscope (TEM) and the scanning electron microscope (SEM). With the TEM the most apparent feature is the homogenization and arrangement of the filamentous cytoplasmic material in elongated and parallel bundles together with elongation of the nuclei and junctional structures. SEM studies present a three-dimensional vision of the filamentous material that confirms and clarifies the cellular deformation as a whole. An hypothesis is advanced suggesting that the phenomenon is due to the effects produced by the extremely rapid dehydration of the tissue or that the electric current and Joule effect can act upon the filaments and contractile proteins, causing the cell deformation.