Fracture-flip: new high-resolution images of cell surfaces after carbon stabilization of freeze-fractured membranes

Abstract

We introduce fracture-flip, a method of obtaining high-resolution views of membrane surfaces. The method, a corollary of label-fracture, is based on the stabilization of the exoplasmic halves of membranes by carbon evaporation. Inversion of these casts followed by Pt/C imaging leads to new views of the cell surface at macromolecular resolution.