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Author Spotlight: Decellularization-Based Quantification of Skeletal Muscle Fatty Infiltration

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Imaging lipid droplets by electron microscopy.

Toyoshi Fujimoto¹, Yuki Ohsaki, Michitaka Suzuki

¹Department of Anatomy and Molecular Cell Biology, Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine, Nagoya, Japan.

Methods in Cell Biology

|October 9, 2013

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Studying lipid droplets (LDs) is challenging for electron microscopy (EM) due to their lipid-rich structure. This chapter explores various EM techniques to overcome these challenges and better understand LDs.

Keywords:

Aldehyde Cryoelectron microscopy Electron microscopy Freeze-fracture Freeze-substitution Immunoelectron microscopy Lipid droplet Osmium tetroxide Quick-freezing Uranyl acetate

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Lipid Droplet Isolation for Quantitative Mass Spectrometry Analysis

Lipid Droplet Isolation for Quantitative Mass Spectrometry Analysis

Published on: April 17, 2017

Area of Science:

Cell Biology
Microscopy

Background:

Lipid droplets (LDs) are unique organelles primarily composed of lipid esters, covered by a phospholipid monolayer.
The lipid-rich nature of LDs complicates standard electron microscopy (EM) fixation using aldehydes, which poorly react with lipids.

Purpose of the Study:

To review and discuss various electron microscopy (EM) methods applicable to the study of lipid droplets (LDs).
To highlight the strengths and limitations of different EM techniques for visualizing LD structure and composition.

Main Methods:

Conventional EM for LD core visualization.
Cryoelectron microscopy for LD surface analysis.
Freeze-substitution, immunoelectron microscopy (pre-embedding, post-embedding, cryosectioning), and freeze-fracture techniques.

Main Results:

Each discussed EM method offers distinct advantages and disadvantages for LD investigation.
Careful interpretation of results is crucial due to inherent method-specific limitations.

Conclusions:

Electron microscopy techniques, when applied judiciously and potentially combined with other disciplines, are vital for advancing our understanding of lipid droplets.
Further application of these methods promises to resolve outstanding questions regarding LD biology.