High voltage electron microscopy of critical point dried trypanosomatids

This paper describes the use of high voltage electron microscope for the observation of whole trypanosomatids. The protozoa were adhered, through the use of polylysine, to formvar-coated grids which were treated or not with different concentrations of Triton X-100, fixed with glutaraldehyde, dehydrated and dried by the critical point drying method. The results obtained indicate that it is possible to observe the entire mitochondrion of the whole trypanosomatid and the spatial array of the sub-pellicular microtubules.