Sample Preparation

The living sample

The living sample gets harvested and small pieces are fixed (chemical or cryo) and embedded in plastic.

After the embedding semithin sections (1-5 µm) are getting observed for interesting features in the light microscope.

Ultrathin sections (50-90 nm) are made to investigate interesting features in the transmission electron microscope.

TEM-micrograph: thylakoid system in a chloroplast.

Series of ultrathin sections are reconstructed to a 3D image by computer programs.