Preparation of polysaccharide solutions for electron microscope investigations of supermolecular morphologic formations of the solid component

A new preparation process, which preserves the original morphological state of polysaccharides in solution during removal of the solvent and so makes possible direct electron microscope investigations, has been developed. The process consists of lyophylization of the sample (in very low concentration of water solution) by freeze-drying, modified for the purpose of electron-microscopic examination. Water-soluble mixture of the polysaccharides of hemicelluloses isolated from the wood tissues of beech and the water solution of the mannan from Saccharomyces cerevisieae treated by means of the new preparation process (preparation with freeze-drying) and, for comparison, these same samples treated without the application of freeze-drying (by means of drying at laboratory temperature and atmospheric pressure, standard preparation process) are introduced as instance from many polysaccharides electron microscopic examined after this preparation process. This method allows one to make direct electron microscope investigations of the water-soluble polysaccharides in no way stained or otherwise shadowed with good resolutions of details in the supermolecular range.