Comparative study of biopolymer--water systems by raster and transmission electron microscopic technics]

Comparative studies of some biological subjects with different water content (yeast cells, swollen starch grains, gels and gelatin and casein solutions) were conducted in scanning and transmitting electron electron microscope. The objects were prepared by cryogenic methods: freezing--drying; freezing--fracture, freezing--etching. It has been shown that when interpreting the micrographs of scanning microscopy for the systems biopolymer--water it is useful to apply the results of transmitting microscopy by using different procedures of preparation both with dehydration and without dehydration of the object. The electron micrographs have shown that with a rise in water content in the object the probability of artefact occurrence is increased for the objects studied in the scanning microscope by using freezing--drying method.