New modality of ICM presented

Approach-retract scanning (ARS) is the latest microscopy modality of Ion conductance microscopy (ICM), which has been found to be highly powerful and enables imaging of samples with steep slopes.

Researchers have recently presented the case of dense collagen fibril network studies via ICM in order to test whether the ARS model is capable of imaging biological samples with large height gaps.

By preparing a sample of collagen fibris derived from the tail tendon of adult Wistar rats, stored in physiological saline with one to ten per cent tymol (2-isopropyl-5-methylphenol) at four degrees C for a minimum of one day, researchers were able to perform ICM imaging in the ARS mode using the XE-Bio System.

The ICM imaging of collagen fibril networks using the ARS mode found that the width of the individual fibrils ranged from 50 to 470 nm. The results showed that certain fibrils are suspended over the glass substrate during the ICM image scanning. This means that the ARS mode of ICM can minimise the loading force, which is unavoidable in conventional atomic force microscopy (AFM).

Posted by Ben Evans