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Published on: June 7, 2019
A preparation of bacterial outer membrane with osmium tetroxide and uranyl acetate co-stain enables improved
Aadil Sheikh1, Bernd Zechmann2, Christie M Sayes3
1Department of Biology, Baylor University, One Bear Place #97046, Waco, TX 76798, USA.
Abstract:
Biological nanoparticles, such as bacterial outer membrane vesicles (OMVs), are routinely characterized through transmission electron microscopy (TEM). In this study, we report a novel method to prepare OMVs for TEM imaging. To preserve vesicular shape and structure, we developed a dual fixation protocol involving osmium tetroxide incubation prior to negative staining with uranyl acetate. Combining osmium tetroxide with uranyl acetate resulted in preservation of sub-50 nm vesicles and improved morphological stability, enhancing characterization of lipid-based nanoparticles by TEM.
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