Freeze-fracture of 3T3 cells for high-resolution scanning electron microscopy.

Triton-extracted, freeze-fractured 3T3 cells have been examined in the Hitachi S-900 field-emission SEM, after light platinum coating, at low beam voltage to evaluate the performance of the microscope under these conditions. For unstained material fixed in glutaraldehyde alone, high-resolution images can be obtained, at accelerating voltages of 1.5-5kV, after rotary deposition of platinum to an average thickness of 1.5-3 nm. Comparisons are made between these results and those of studies by TEM of deep-etch replicas of similar material previously published.