Figure
5: Conventional cryo-TEM and cryo-STEM images acquired on the same
grid of nucleic acid LNPs on a drug product with 10% sugars. A)
Conventional cryo-TEM image. B) Cryo-STEM image showing in addition to
lipid bilayer, the phase segregation between nucleic acid (n.a.) and
water (w) in background vitreous ice and within LNPs. Arrows point at
lipid bilayers of LNP. Images were acquired on a Glacios microscope
operated at 200KV using a Falcon 4 camera for the conventional cryo-TEM
and a Panther STEM detector for the cryo-STEM image.
Because the size of the samples that cryo-STET can investigate perfectly
matches the dimensions of numerous unicellular parasites, this method
has the potential to make great progress in the unravelling of the
complex parasite structure which could help better understand how these
cells infect their hosts.