Abstract
High-resolution x-ray imaging techniques offer a variety of possibilities for studying the nanoscale structure of biological cells. A challenging task remains the study of cells by x rays in their natural, aqueous environment. Here, we overcome this limitation by presenting scanning x-ray diffraction measurements with beam sizes in the range of a few hundred nm on living and fixed-hydrated eukaryotic cells in microfluidic devices which mimic a native environment. The direct comparison between fixed-hydrated and living cells shows distinct differences in the scattering signal, pointing to structural changes on the order of 30 to 50 nm.
- Received 14 November 2013
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.112.088102
© 2014 American Physical Society
Synopsis
Live Cell Imaging
Published 25 February 2014
Researchers show that a common method of preparing cells for x-ray imaging may introduce spurious nanostructures into the cells.
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