Figure 5. Observation of EM formation using CLSM images. SYTO 9
(green area) stained the cells with intact cell membranes, PI (red area)
stained the cells with damaged cell membranes, and Calcofluor White
(blue area) stained polysaccharides.
The CLSM and SEM images suggest that cell morphological changes would be
caused by the inhibition of EM formation by indoxyl. Decreased EMs can
promote cytoplasmic loss, and transmission electron microscopy can
observe the separation of the cell membrane from the cell wall due to
the loss of cytoplasm (Wei et al., 2021). Atomic force microscopy can
observe cell shrinkage caused by external stress, resulting in cell
surface folds (Wang et al., 2020). In this study, the damage to the cell
membrane observed using CLSM may also lead to the loss of cytoplasm, and
then the cells undergo morphological changes.