Electron Microscopy Unit - Techniques

Negative staining

Negative staining is a powerful TEM method for studying particulate samples characterized by very law dimensions such as biological macromolecules, purified cellular organelles, exosomes, viruses and bacteria. A high atomic weight element solution is used to create an electronic contrast on samples deposed on carbon coated TEM grids. The biological structures repulse the high atomic weight ions of the staining solution depositing around the sample and producing a light image against a dark background.

Examples of application of the negative staining technique in electron microscopy

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