The “nanosuit<sup>®</sup>” As Biomimetic Biofilms: A Novel Scanning Electron Microscopy for Living Organisms

Electron beam radiation or plasma treatment of the extracellular substances (ECS) of Drosophila's maggots allowed them to survive in the high vacuum environment of a scanning electron microscope (SEM). The plasma-polymerized nano-film of the ECS acts as a protective layer for the rapid dehydration under the reduced pressure of SEM observation. Artificial coating of polysorbitan monolaurate (Tween-20) allowed organisms without a natural ECS to survive under SEM experiment. The results of grazing-incidence small-angle X-ray scattering (GI-SAXS) experiment indicate that the plasma-irradiated surface of the Tween-20 thin film inhibits water evaporation from the insect body. We have proposed a novel method of “NanoSuit” for the high resolution SEM observation of living specimens.