Thin-section and freeze-fracture study of post-mortem changes in dog myocardium

1. Fragments of dog hearts submitted to 1, 6, 10, 24 and 48 h of autolysis at 20 degrees C were studied with freeze-fracture and thin-section techniques under the transmission electron microscope. 2. The freeze-fracture replicas revealed maximal reduction in the mean number and clustering of intramembrane particles at 6 h post mortem, indicating irreversible cellular damage. However, signs of lethal damage (intramitochondrial amorphous dense bodies) were not observed in thin sections of the same material. 3. The present study indicates that signs of irreversible damage similar to that occurring in in vivo ischemic alterations can be detected earlier by the freeze-fracture technique than by the thin-section technique.