IMAGING THE INTERNAL CELLULAR STRUCTURE OF MERINO WOOL FIBERS USING ATOMIC-FORCE MICROSCOPY

Atomic force microscopy (AFM) was used to image the cellular structure of Merino wool fibres. Fibres were embedded in LR White resin and sec tioned with an ultramicrotome using a diamond knife. Both thin section s and the block, from which the sections were cut, were imaged. The te chnique yielded sufficiently flat surfaces, enabling details of the ce llular components within the wool fibre (ortho- and paracortical cells , cell membrane complex, macrofibrils and nuclear remnants) to be read ily discerned by AFM. Some images show the cell membrane complex to be below the surface of the cortical cells, whereas in other images, the cell membrane complex was above the level of the cortical cells. (C) 1997 Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation. Pub lished by Elsevier Science Ltd.