Dark Field Transmission Electron Microscopy Imaging for Biological and Soft Matter Systems

Abstract

International audienceIn this study, we present a new application of the transmission electron microscopy dark field mode for cell imaging. We have applied this imaging mode to two types of cellular systems: human HeLa cells to analyze molecular membrane systems and HC11 mouse mammary cells containing lipid molecule droplets. We have also studied a third macromolecular system, copolymer nanoparticles for the characterization of core-shell structures. We want to show the effective use of diffraction contrast, even on amorphous systems for increasing the image contrast and the signal/noise ratio. We discuss the TEM dark field advantages for the analysis of polymers and other macromolecular systems, including biological, systems compared to the bright field mode