Assessment of morphology of asymmetrical biological macromolecules with digital techniques

Digital image processing techniques which determine the morphology of an unordered, spherical biological macromolecule are discussed. The techniques involve slicing appropriate intensity levels of the scanning transmission electron microscope image so that more accurate observation of morphology can be made. The techniques were applied to native and hybrid canine plasma high-density lipoprotein molecules. Resulting data indicated that the techniques were very useful to assess the diameters of both molecule and surface substructures of such asymmetrical macromolecules.