Biomaterial Database

Extraction of lipids during freeze-substitution of Acholeplasma laidlawii-cells for electron microscopy. 1984

C Weibull, and W Villiger, and E Carlemalm

Cells of the bacterium Acholeplasma laidlawii were rapidly frozen against a copper block cooled by liquid helium. The frozen cells were transferred to liquid nitrogen and subsequently to acetone or methanol at 183 K. After 24 h the cells were infiltrated at 203 K with a non-polar methacrylate resin of the same type as Lowicryl HM20. The resin was cured at the same temperature. Acetone extracted approximately 5% of the lipid content of the cells, methanol 15-45% and the resin only negligible amounts. Similar results were obtained with A. laidlawii-ghosts. The cells appeared well preserved when examined in the electron microscope.

UI	MeSH Term	Description	Entries
D007202	Indicators and Reagents	Substances used for the detection, identification, analysis, etc. of chemical, biological, or pathologic processes or conditions. Indicators are substances that change in physical appearance, e.g., color, at or approaching the endpoint of a chemical titration, e.g., on the passage between acidity and alkalinity. Reagents are substances used for the detection or determination of another substance by chemical or microscopical means, especially analysis. Types of reagents are precipitants, solvents, oxidizers, reducers, fluxes, and colorimetric reagents. (From Grant & Hackh's Chemical Dictionary, 5th ed, p301, p499)	Indicator,Reagent,Reagents,Indicators,Reagents and Indicators
D008055	Lipids	A generic term for fats and lipoids, the alcohol-ether-soluble constituents of protoplasm, which are insoluble in water. They comprise the fats, fatty oils, essential oils, waxes, phospholipids, glycolipids, sulfolipids, aminolipids, chromolipids (lipochromes), and fatty acids. (Grant & Hackh's Chemical Dictionary, 5th ed)	Lipid
D008854	Microscopy, Electron	Microscopy using an electron beam, instead of light, to visualize the sample, thereby allowing much greater magnification. The interactions of ELECTRONS with specimens are used to provide information about the fine structure of that specimen. In TRANSMISSION ELECTRON MICROSCOPY the reactions of the electrons that are transmitted through the specimen are imaged. In SCANNING ELECTRON MICROSCOPY an electron beam falls at a non-normal angle on the specimen and the image is derived from the reactions occurring above the plane of the specimen.	Electron Microscopy
D005615	Freezing	Liquids transforming into solids by the removal of heat.	Melting
D005976	Glutaral	One of the protein CROSS-LINKING REAGENTS that is used as a disinfectant for sterilization of heat-sensitive equipment and as a laboratory reagent, especially as a fixative.	Glutaraldehyde,Cidex,Diswart,Gludesin,Glutardialdehyde,Glutarol,Korsolex,Novaruca,Sekumatic,Sonacide,Sporicidin
D000128	Acholeplasma laidlawii	An organism originally isolated from sewage, manure, humus, and soil, but recently found as a parasite in mammals and birds.	Mycoplasma laidlawii