Visualization of the inner and outer surfaces of the cell membrane and cytoskeleton by polyethylene glycol embedding, subsequent deembedding, and rotary replication with platinum

Abstract

Using rotary replication with platinum and carbon to embedment‐free sections of polyethylene glycol (PEG)‐embedded tissue from which PEG had been removed, the membrane specializations on the outer (exoplasmic) and inner (protoplasmic) cell surface as well as the organization of the cytoskeleton was demonstrated. The high quality and excellent preservation were comparable to that obtained by the rapid‐freezing, deep‐etched replica method. The present results indicate that the PEG method is essentially acceptable as a reliable morphological technique. Because either sectioned or replica images from the same tissue cells can be observed simultaneously, the PEG method with rotary replication should provide valuable information on cell ultrastructure.