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Updated: Jan 27, 2026
Phase Contrast and Differential Interference Contrast DIC Microscopy
Published on: August 6, 2008
Carbon replicas reveal double stranded structure of tight junctions in phase-contrast electron microscopy
Evan S Krystofiak1,2, J Bernard Heymann3, Bechara Kachar4
1Laboratory of Cell Structure and Dynamics, National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, 20892, USA.
None:
Replica-based freeze-fracture and freeze-etching electron microscopy methods provide surface topography information, particularly suited to studying membrane protein complexes in their native context. The fidelity and resolution of metal replicas is limited by the inherent property of metal atoms to crystallize. To overcome the limitations of metal replicas, we combined amorphous carbon replicas with phase-contrast electron microscopy. Using this approach, tight junction intramembrane fibrils were shown to have a double stranded morphology.
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