Stereo pair of an embedment-free section of a detergent-extracted 8-cell embryo reveals the cytoskeletal interior in greater detail than is afforded in resin-embedded sections. The specimen is viewed at an angle by selecting a stereo pair of -12 and 6 degrees (left to right), consequently the bottom left corner appears lower in the stereomicrograph. At later stages of development the specialized intermediate filament network in mammalian eggs and embryos (i.e., the cytoskeletal whorls) become parallel bundles as they are preparing to disassemble into individual intermediate filaments. Scale bar is 1.0 ?m.
Biological Process: Intermediate filament cytoskeleton organization
Sections were imaged with a Phillips CM300 transmission electron microscope. See Capco DG, McGaughey RW. Dev Biol. 1986 Jun;115(2):446-58 for details on specimen processing.
Author: David G. Capco
Source: The Cell: An Image Library