Microtome
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A microtome (from the Greek ''mikros'', meaning "small", and ''temnein'', meaning "to cut") is a
cutting tool In the context of machining, a cutting tool or cutter is typically a hardened metal tool that is used to cut, shape, and remove material from a workpiece by means of machining tools as well as abrasive tools by way of shear deformation. The major ...
used to produce extremely thin slices of material known as ''sections''. Important in
science Science is a systematic endeavor that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe. Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earliest archeological evidence for ...
, microtomes are used in
microscopy Microscopy is the technical field of using microscopes to view objects and areas of objects that cannot be seen with the naked eye (objects that are not within the resolution range of the normal eye). There are three well-known branches of micr ...
, allowing for the preparation of samples for observation under transmitted
light Light or visible light is electromagnetic radiation that can be perceived by the human eye. Visible light is usually defined as having wavelengths in the range of 400–700 nanometres (nm), corresponding to frequencies of 750–420 tera ...
or
electron The electron ( or ) is a subatomic particle with a negative one elementary electric charge. Electrons belong to the first generation of the lepton particle family, and are generally thought to be elementary particles because they have no kn ...
radiation. Microtomes use
steel Steel is an alloy made up of iron with added carbon to improve its strength and fracture resistance compared to other forms of iron. Many other elements may be present or added. Stainless steels that are corrosion- and oxidation-resistant ty ...
,
glass Glass is a non-crystalline, often transparent, amorphous solid that has widespread practical, technological, and decorative use in, for example, window panes, tableware, and optics. Glass is most often formed by rapid cooling (quenching) of ...
or
diamond Diamond is a Allotropes of carbon, solid form of the element carbon with its atoms arranged in a crystal structure called diamond cubic. Another solid form of carbon known as graphite is the Chemical stability, chemically stable form of car ...
blade A blade is the portion of a tool, weapon, or machine with an edge that is designed to puncture, chop, slice or scrape surfaces or materials. Blades are typically made from materials that are harder than those they are to be used on. Historic ...
s depending upon the specimen being sliced and the desired thickness of the sections being cut. Steel blades are used to prepare
histological Histology, also known as microscopic anatomy or microanatomy, is the branch of biology which studies the microscopic anatomy of biological tissues. Histology is the microscopic counterpart to gross anatomy, which looks at larger structures vis ...
sections of animal or plant tissues for
light microscopy Microscopy is the technical field of using microscopes to view objects and areas of objects that cannot be seen with the naked eye (objects that are not within the resolution range of the normal eye). There are three well-known branches of micr ...
. Glass knives are used to slice sections for light microscopy and to slice very thin sections for
electron microscopy An electron microscope is a microscope that uses a beam of accelerated electrons as a source of illumination. As the wavelength of an electron can be up to 100,000 times shorter than that of visible light photons, electron microscopes have a hi ...
. Industrial grade diamond knives are used to slice hard materials such as
bone A bone is a Stiffness, rigid Organ (biology), organ that constitutes part of the skeleton in most vertebrate animals. Bones protect the various other organs of the body, produce red blood cell, red and white blood cells, store minerals, provid ...
,
teeth A tooth ( : teeth) is a hard, calcified structure found in the jaws (or mouths) of many vertebrates and used to break down food. Some animals, particularly carnivores and omnivores, also use teeth to help with capturing or wounding prey, tear ...
and tough plant matter for both light microscopy and for electron microscopy. Gem-quality diamond knives are also used for slicing thin sections for
electron microscopy An electron microscope is a microscope that uses a beam of accelerated electrons as a source of illumination. As the wavelength of an electron can be up to 100,000 times shorter than that of visible light photons, electron microscopes have a hi ...
. Microtomy is a method for the preparation of thin sections for materials such as bones, minerals and teeth, and an alternative to
electropolishing Electropolishing, also known as electrochemical polishing, anodic polishing, or electrolytic polishing (especially in the metallography field), is an electrochemical process that removes material from a metallic workpiece, reducing the surface roug ...
and
ion milling An ion () is an atom or molecule with a net electrical charge. The charge of an electron is considered to be negative by convention and this charge is equal and opposite to the charge of a proton, which is considered to be positive by conven ...
. Microtome sections can be made thin enough to section a human hair across its breadth, with section thickness between 50  nm and 100  μm.


History

In the beginnings of
light microscope The optical microscope, also referred to as a light microscope, is a type of microscope that commonly uses visible light and a system of lenses to generate magnified images of small objects. Optical microscopes are the oldest design of microsco ...
development, sections from plants and animals were manually prepared using razor blades. It was found that to observe the structure of the specimen under observation it was important to make clean reproducible cuts on the order of 100 μm, through which light can be transmitted. This allowed for the observation of samples using light microscopes in a transmission mode. One of the first devices for the preparation of such cuts was invented in 1770 by George Adams, Jr. (1750–1795) and further developed by
Alexander Cummings Alexander Cumming FRSE (sometimes referred to as Alexander Cummings; 1733 – 8 March 1814) was a Scottish watchmaker and instrument inventor, who was the first to patent a design of the flush toilet in 1775, which had been pioneered by Sir Jo ...
. The device was hand operated, and the sample held in a cylinder and sections created from the top of the sample using a hand crank. In 1835, Andrew Prichard developed a table based model which allowed for the vibration to be isolated by affixing the device to the table, separating the operator from the knife.Gilbert Morgan Smith: ''The Development of Botanical Microtechnique.'' In: ''Transactions of the American Microscopical Society'' 34, Nr. 2. 1915, S. 71–129,
PDF-Version of the article)
Occasionally, attribution for the invention of the microtome is given to the anatomist
Wilhelm His, Sr. __NOTOC__ Wilhelm His Sr. (9 July 1831 – 1 May 1904) was a Swiss anatomist and professor who invented the microtome. By treating animal flesh with acids and salts to harden it and then slicing it very thinly with the microtome, scientists were ...
(1865), In his ''Beschreibung eines Mikrotoms'' (German for ''Description of a Microtome''), Wilhelm wrote: Other sources further attribute the development to a Czech physiologist
Jan Evangelista Purkyně Jan Evangelista Purkyně (; also written Johann Evangelist Purkinje) (17 or 18 December 1787 – 28 July 1869) was a Czech anatomist and physiologist. In 1839, he coined the term '' protoplasm'' for the fluid substance of a cell. He was one of t ...
. Several sources describe the Purkyne model as the first in practical use. The obscurities in the origins of the microtome are due to the fact that the first microtomes were simply cutting apparatuses, and the developmental phase of early devices is widely undocumented. At the end of the 1800s, the development of very thin and consistently thin samples by microtomy, together with the selective staining of important cell components or molecules allowed for the visualisation of microscope details. Today, the majority of microtomes are a knife-block design with a changeable knife, a specimen holder and an advancement mechanism. In most devices the cutting of the sample begins by moving the sample over the knife, where the advancement mechanism automatically moves forward such that the next cut for a chosen thickness can be made. The section thickness is controlled by an adjustment mechanism, allowing for precise control.


Applications

The most common applications of microtomes are: * Traditional
Histology Histology, also known as microscopic anatomy or microanatomy, is the branch of biology which studies the microscopic anatomy of biological tissues. Histology is the microscopic counterpart to gross anatomy, which looks at larger structures vis ...
Technique: tissues are fixed, dehydrated, cleared, and embedded in melted
paraffin Paraffin may refer to: Substances * Paraffin wax, a white or colorless soft solid that is used as a lubricant and for other applications * Liquid paraffin (drug), a very highly refined mineral oil used in cosmetics and for medical purposes * Alkan ...
, which when cooled forms a solid block. The tissue is then cut in the microtome at thicknesses varying from 2 to 50 μm. From there the tissue can be mounted on a microscope slide, stained with appropriate aqueous dye(s) after removal of the paraffin, and examined using a light microscope. *
Frozen section procedure The frozen section procedure is a pathological laboratory procedure to perform rapid microscopic analysis of a specimen. It is used most often in oncological surgery. The technical name for this procedure is cryosection. The microtome device that ...
: water-rich tissues are hardened by freezing and cut in the frozen state with a freezing microtome or microtome-
cryostat A cryostat (from ''cryo'' meaning cold and ''stat'' meaning stable) is a device used to maintain low cryogenic temperatures of samples or devices mounted within the cryostat. Low temperatures may be maintained within a cryostat by using various ...
; sections are stained and examined with a light microscope. This technique is much faster than traditional histology (5 minutes vs 16 hours) and is used in conjunction with medical procedures to achieve a quick diagnosis. Cryosections can also be used in
immunohistochemistry Immunohistochemistry (IHC) is the most common application of immunostaining. It involves the process of selectively identifying antigens (proteins) in cells of a tissue section by exploiting the principle of antibodies binding specifically to an ...
as freezing tissue stops degradation of tissue faster than using a fixative and does not alter or mask its chemical composition as much. *
Electron Microscopy An electron microscope is a microscope that uses a beam of accelerated electrons as a source of illumination. As the wavelength of an electron can be up to 100,000 times shorter than that of visible light photons, electron microscopes have a hi ...
Technique: after embedding tissues in epoxy resin, a microtome equipped with a glass or gem grade diamond knife is used to cut very thin sections (typically 60 to 100 nanometer). Sections are stained with an aqueous solution of an appropriate heavy metal salt and examined with a
transmission electron microscope Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) is a microscopy technique in which a beam of electrons is transmitted through a specimen to form an image. The specimen is most often an ultrathin section less than 100 nm thick or a suspension on a gr ...
. This instrument is often called an ''ultramicrotome''. The ultramicrotome is also used with its glass knife or an industrial grade diamond knife to cut survey sections prior to thin sectioning. These survey sections are generally 0.5 to 1 μm thick and are mounted on a glass slide and stained to locate areas of interest under a light microscope prior to thin sectioning for the TEM. Thin sectioning for the TEM is often done with a gem quality diamond knife. Complementing traditional TEM techniques ultramicrotomes are increasingly found mounted inside an SEM chamber so the surface of the block face can be imaged and then removed with the microtome to uncover the next surface for imaging. This technique is called Serial Block-Face Scanning Electron Microscopy (SBFSEM). * Botanical Microtomy Technique: hard materials like wood, bone and leather require a sledge microtome. These microtomes have heavier blades and cannot cut as thin as a regular microtome. *
Spectroscopy Spectroscopy is the field of study that measures and interprets the electromagnetic spectra that result from the interaction between electromagnetic radiation and matter as a function of the wavelength or frequency of the radiation. Matter wa ...
(especially FTIR or
Infrared spectroscopy Infrared spectroscopy (IR spectroscopy or vibrational spectroscopy) is the measurement of the interaction of infrared radiation with matter by absorption, emission, or reflection. It is used to study and identify chemical substances or function ...
) Technique: thin polymer sections are needed in order that the infra-red beam can penetrate the sample under examination. It is normal to cut samples to between 20 and 100 μm in thickness. For more detailed analysis of much smaller areas in a thin section, FTIR
microscopy Microscopy is the technical field of using microscopes to view objects and areas of objects that cannot be seen with the naked eye (objects that are not within the resolution range of the normal eye). There are three well-known branches of micr ...
can be used for sample inspection. A recent development is the laser microtome, which cuts the target specimen with a
femtosecond laser Mode locking is a technique in optics by which a laser can be made to produce pulses of light of extremely short duration, on the order of picoseconds (10−12 s) or femtoseconds (10−15 s). A laser operated in this way is sometimes r ...
instead of a mechanical knife. This method is contact-free and does not require sample preparation techniques. The laser microtome has the ability to slice almost every tissue in its native state. Depending on the material being processed, slice thicknesses of 10 to 100 μm are feasible. Sectioning intervals can be classified mainly into either: *Serial sectioning: obtaining a continuous ribbon of sections from a paraffin block and using all for slides. *Step sections: collected at specified depths in the block.


Types


Sledge

A sledge microtome is a device where the sample is placed into a fixed holder (shuttle), which then moves backwards and forwards across a knife. Modern sled microtomes have the sled placed upon a linear bearing, a design that allows the microtome to readily cut many coarse sections. By adjusting the angles between the sample and the microtome knife, the pressure applied to the sample during the cut can be reduced. Typical applications for this design of microtome are of the preparation of large samples, such as those embedded in paraffin for biological preparations. Typical cut thickness achievable on a sledge microtome is between 1 and 60 μm.


Rotary

This instrument is a common microtome design. This device operates with a staged rotary action such that the actual cutting is part of the rotary motion. In a rotary microtome, the knife is typically fixed in a vertical position.Klaus Henkel:
Das Schneiden mit dem Mikrotom
.'' Mikrobiologische Vereinigung München e. V., 2006, accessed 15 February 2009
In the figure to the left, the principle of the cut is explained. Through the motion of the sample holder, the sample is cut by the knife position 1 to position 2, at which point the fresh section remains on the knife. At the highest point of the rotary motion, the sample holder is advanced by the same thickness as the section that is to be made, allowing the next section to be made. The flywheel in many microtomes can be operated by hand. This has the advantage that a clean cut can be made, as the relatively large mass of the flywheel prevents the sample from being stopped during the sample cut. The flywheel in newer models is often integrated inside the microtome casing. The typical cut thickness for a rotary microtome is between 1 and 60 μm. For hard materials, such as a sample embedded in a synthetic resin, this design of microtome can allow good "semi-thin" sections with a thickness of as low as 0.5 μm.


Cryomicrotome

For the cutting of frozen samples, many rotary microtomes can be adapted to cut in a liquid-nitrogen chamber, in a so-called cryomicrotome setup. The reduced temperature allows the hardness of the sample to be increased, such as by undergoing a glass transition, which allows the preparation of semi-thin samples. However the sample temperature and the knife temperature must be controlled in order to optimise the resultant sample thickness.


Ultramicrotome

An ultramicrotome is a main tool of ultramicrotomy. It allows the preparation of extremely thin sections, with the device functioning in the same manner as a rotational microtome, but with very tight tolerances on the mechanical construction. As a result of the careful mechanical construction, the linear thermal expansion of the mounting is used to provide very fine control of the thickness. These extremely thin cuts are important for use with
transmission electron microscope Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) is a microscopy technique in which a beam of electrons is transmitted through a specimen to form an image. The specimen is most often an ultrathin section less than 100 nm thick or a suspension on a gr ...
(TEM) and serial block-face scanning electron microscopy (SBFSEM), and are sometimes also important for light-optical microscopy. The typical thickness of these cuts is between 40 and 100 nm for transmission electron microscopy and often between 30 and 50 nm for SBFSEM. Thicker sections up to 500 nm thick are also taken for specialized TEM applications or for light-microscopy survey sections to select an area for the final thin sections. Diamond knives (preferably) and glass knives are used with ultramicrotomes. To collect the sections, they are floated on top of a liquid as they are cut and are carefully picked up onto grids suitable for TEM specimen viewing. The thickness of the section can be estimated by the
thin-film interference Thin-film interference is a natural phenomenon in which light waves reflected by the upper and lower boundaries of a thin film interfere with one another, either enhancing or reducing the reflected light. When the thickness of the film is an ...
colors of reflected light that are seen as a result of the extremely low sample thickness.


Vibrating

The vibrating microtome operates by cutting using a vibrating blade, allowing the resultant cut to be made with less pressure than would be required for a stationary blade. The vibrating microtome is usually used for difficult biological samples. The cut thickness is usually around 30–500 μm for live tissue and 10–500 μm for fixed tissue. A variation on the vibrating microtome is the Compresstome microtome. The Compresstome uses a specimen syringe or "lipstick-like" tube to hold the tissue. The tissue specimen is completely embedded in
agarose Agarose is a heteropolysaccharide, generally extracted from certain red seaweed. It is a linear polymer made up of the repeating unit of agarobiose, which is a disaccharide made up of D-galactose and 3,6-anhydro-L-galactopyranose. Agarose is ...
(a
polysaccharide Polysaccharides (), or polycarbohydrates, are the most abundant carbohydrates found in food. They are long chain polymeric carbohydrates composed of monosaccharide units bound together by glycosidic linkages. This carbohydrate can react with wa ...
), and the tissue is slowly and gently pressed out of the tube for the vibrating blade to cut. The device operates in the following way: the end of the specimen tube where the tissue emerges is slightly narrower than the loading end, which allows gentle "compression" of the tissue as it comes out of the tube. The slight compression prevents shearing, uneven cutting, and vibration artifacts from forming. Note that the compression technology does not damage or affect the tissue being sectioned. There are several advantages of the Compresstome microtome: 1) the agarose embedding provides stability to the entire specimen on all sides, which prevents uneven slicing or shearing of tissue; 2) the compression technology gently compresses tissue for even cutting, so that the blade doesn't push against the tissue; 3) faster sectioning than most vibrating microtomes; and 4) it cuts tissue from older or more mature animals well to provide healthier tissues.


Saw

The saw microtome is especially for hard materials such as teeth or bones. The microtome of this type has a recessed rotating saw, which slices through the sample. The minimal cut thickness is approximately 30 μm and can be made for comparatively large samples.


Laser

The
laser A laser is a device that emits light through a process of optical amplification based on the stimulated emission of electromagnetic radiation. The word "laser" is an acronym for "light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation". The fir ...
microtome is an instrument for contact-free slicing.Holger Lubatschowski 2007: ''Laser Microtomy'', WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH, Biophotonics, S. 49–51
PDF
).
Prior preparation of the sample through embedding, freezing or chemical fixation is not required, thereby minimizing the artifacts from preparation methods. Alternately this design of microtome can also be used for very hard materials, such as bones or teeth, as well as some ceramics. Dependent upon the properties of the sample material, the thickness achievable is between 10 and 100 μm. The device operates using a cutting action of an infrared laser. As the laser emits a radiation in the near infrared, in this wavelength regime the laser can interact with biological materials. Through sharp focusing of the probe within the sample, a focal point of very high intensity, up to TW/cm2, can be achieved. Through the non-linear interaction of the optical penetration in the focal region a material separation in a process known as photo-disruption is introduced. By limiting the laser pulse durations to the femtoseconds range, the energy expended at the target region is precisely controlled, thereby limiting the interaction zone of the cut to under a micrometre. External to this zone the ultra-short beam application time introduces minimal to no thermal damage to the remainder of the sample. The laser radiation is directed onto a fast scanning mirror-based optical system, which allows three-dimensional positioning of the beam crossover, whilst allowing beam traversal to the desired region of interest. The combination of high power with a high raster rate allows the scanner to cut large areas of sample in a short time. In the laser microtome the laser-microdissection of internal areas in tissues, cellular structures, and other types of small features is also possible.


Knives

The selection of microtome knife blade profile depends upon the material and preparation of the samples, as well as the final sample requirements (e.g. cut thickness and quality).


Design and cut types

Generally, knives are characterized by the profile of the knife blade, which falls under the categories of planar concave, wedge shaped or chisel shaped designs. Planar concave microtome knives are extremely sharp, but are also very delicate and are therefore only used with very soft samples. The wedge profile knives are somewhat more stable and find use in moderately hard materials, such as in epoxy or cryogenic sample cutting. Finally, the chisel profile with its blunt edge, raises the stability of the knife, whilst requiring significantly more force to achieve the cut. For ultramicrotomes, glass and diamond knives are required, the cut breadth of the blade is therefore on the order of a few millimetres and is therefore significantly smaller than for classical microtome knives. Glass knives are usually manufactured by the fracture of glass bars using special "knife-maker" fracturing devices. Glass knives may be used for initial sample preparations even where diamond knives may be used for final sectioning. Glass knives usually have small troughs, made with plastic tape, which are filled with water to allow the sample to float for later collection. Diamond blades may be built into such an existing trough, allowing for the same collection method.


Sectioning

Prior to cutting by microtome, biological materials are usually placed in a more rigid fixative, in a process known as embedding. This is achieved by the inflow of a liquid substance around the sample, such as paraffin (wax) or epoxy, which is placed in a mold and later hardened to produce a "block" which is readily cut. The declination is the angle of contact between the sample vertical and knife blade. If the knife blade is at right angles (declination=90) the cut is made directly using a pressure based mode, and the forces are therefore proportionally larger. If the knife is tilted, however, the relative motion of the knife is increasingly parallel to sample motion, allowing for a slicing action. This behaviour is very important for large or hard samples The inclination of the knife is the angle between the knife face and the sample. For an optimal result, this angle must be chosen appropriately. The optimal angle depends upon the knife geometry, the cut speed and many other parameters. If the angle is adjusted to zero, the knife cut can often become erratic, and a new location of the knife must be used to smooth this out. If the angle is too large, the sample can crumple and the knife can induce periodic thickness variations in the cut. By further increasing the angle such that it is too large one can damage the knife blade itself.


See also

*
Histology Histology, also known as microscopic anatomy or microanatomy, is the branch of biology which studies the microscopic anatomy of biological tissues. Histology is the microscopic counterpart to gross anatomy, which looks at larger structures vis ...
*
Microscope A microscope () is a laboratory instrument used to examine objects that are too small to be seen by the naked eye. Microscopy is the science of investigating small objects and structures using a microscope. Microscopic means being invisibl ...


References


External links

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