Skeletal muscle triad junction ultrastructure by Focused-Ion-Beam milling of muscle and Cryo-Electron Tomography


Submitted: 6 November 2014
Accepted: 15 January 2015
Published: 15 January 2015
Abstract Views: 2929
PDF: 1171
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Authors

  • Terence Wagenknecht New York State Department of Health, Wadsworth Cente, Empire State Plaza, Albany, NY; Department of Biomedical Sciences, School of Public Health, University at Albany, Albany, NY, United States.
  • Chyongere Hsieh New York State Department of Health, Wadsworth Cente, Empire State Plaza, Albany, NY, United States.
  • Michael Marko New York State Department of Health, Wadsworth Cente, Empire State Plaza, Albany, NY, United States.
Cryo-electron tomography (cryo-ET) has emerged as perhaps the only practical technique for revealing nanometer-level three-dimensional structural details of subcellular macromolecular complexes in their native context, inside the cell. As currently practiced, the specimen should be 0.1- 0.2 microns in thickness to achieve optimal resolution. Thus, application of cryo-ET to intact frozen (vitreous) tissues, such as skeletal muscle, requires that they be sectioned. Cryo-ultramicrotomy is notoriously difficult and artifact-prone when applied to frozen cells and tissue, but a new technique, focused ion beam milling (cryo-FIB), shows great promise for “thinning” frozen biological specimens. Here we describe our initial results in applying cryo-FIB and cryo-ET to triad junctions of skeletal muscle.

Supporting Agencies

National Institutes of Health, New York State Department of Health

Wagenknecht, T., Hsieh, C., & Marko, M. (2015). Skeletal muscle triad junction ultrastructure by Focused-Ion-Beam milling of muscle and Cryo-Electron Tomography. European Journal of Translational Myology, 25(1), 49–56. https://doi.org/10.4081/ejtm.2015.4823

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