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*CIL – Cell Image Library accession number. Please use this to reference an image.

CIL:10919*  Cite 
Description

Freeze fracture image of the E-face of rat bladder lumenal membrane. The lumenal surface of these epithelial cells is composed of plaques separated by interplaque regions. Within the plaques are hexagonal arrays of subunits (about 12nm, with center-to-center spacing of 15.6nm) on the E-face of the membrane. The inset panel shows these subunits at higher magnification, prepared by deep-etching rather than fracturing after freezing. At higher magnification, each subunit within the plaque appear to be composed of a ring of six particles surrounding a channel. These plaques are distinguished from gap junctions (found on the P-face of membranes) by their location on their position instead on the E-face. These micrographs courtesy of Nicholas Severs and Marian Hicks, Figure 13 from Chapter 1 (The Cell Surface) of 'The Cell, 2nd Ed.' by Don W. Fawcett M.D. A PDF copy of the accompanying chapter is available on the ASCB's BioEDUCATE website.

Technical Details

With the freeze-fracture technique, tissue is rapidly frozen and cracked to shear along zones of weakness. Cleavage of membranes occurs along the hydrophobic interior of the lipid bilayer to reveal views of a "p-face" (the outwardly-facing inner half of the membrane) and an "e-face" (the inwardly-facing outer half of the membrane), and a metallic replica is made of the fractured surface. The intramembranous particles represent integral membrane proteins.

Biological Sources
NCBI Organism Classification
Rattus
Cell Type
transitional epithelial cell
Cellular Component
plasma membrane
extracellular region part
Biological Context
Biological Process
plasma membrane organization
Attribution
Names
Nicholas Severs
Marian Hicks
Published
ISBN 0721635849
Link
The Cell, 2nd Ed. by D.W. Fawcett
Citation
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
doi:10.7295/W9CIL10919
Archival Resource Key (ARK)
ark:/b7295/w9cil10919
Grouping This image is part of a group.
Imaging
Image Type
transmission electron microscopy (TEM)
Image Mode
illumination by electrons
detection of electrons
Parameters Imaged
electron density
Source of Contrast
differences in deposition of metal shadow
Visualization Methods
shadowing and plating
Data Qualifiers
processed data
Sample Preparation
Methods
freeze_fracture/freeze_etch
Relation To Intact Cell
isolated subcellular component
Dimensions
Spatial Axis Image Size Pixel Size
X 902px ——
Y 1272px ——