Protein casting: A new replication technique for observing fluid surface structures

✍ Scribed by Garber, M. A. ;McManus, W. ;Bennett, B. ;Hunter, R. L.

• Publisher: Wiley (John Wiley & Sons)
• Year: 1985
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 196 KB
• Volume: 2
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0741-0581
• DOI: 10.1002/jemt.1060020111

✦ Synopsis

Certain insoluble copolymers form characteristic liquid crystalline structures at water/copolymer interfaces. The formation of these structures, discernable with phase contrast microscopy, correlates with biological activities as immunological adjuvants. In order to stujy such structures at the electron microscopic level, it was necessary to develop a preparation technique which preserved the water/polymer interface. A technique was devised, here called "protein casting," which uses highly concentrated bovine serum albumin (BSA) in water, subsequently fixed with glutaraldehyde, to form a replica of the water/polymer interface. These casts appeared highly accurate at low magnifications,and resolved to less than 101x11. This technique seems ideal f o r accurate replication of surfaces formed by nonmiscible liquids and should prove helpful in studies of other materials in aqueous suspension.