The Leica EM UC7 ultramicrotome is combined with an EM FC7 low-temperature cryo-sectioning chamber.
The UC7 can be used to trim specimens and cut ultrathin sections at room temperature. Addition of the FC7 chamber allows sectioning to be performed at controlled sub-zero temperatures.
Main Applications
- Ultrathin sectioning of resin-embedded samples
- Semi-thin sectioning for light-microscopy orientation
- Tokuyasu cryo-sectioning
- Cryo-ultramicrotomy
- CEMOVIS preparation
- Sectioning of polymers or temperature-sensitive materials
- Preparation of sections for immunolabelling
- Surface preparation and trimming before imaging
For Tokuyasu applications, chemically fixed and cryoprotected specimens are sectioned at low temperature before immunolabelling. For CEMOVIS, vitrified biological material is cut directly under cryogenic conditions, without conventional resin embedding.
CEMOVIS is technically demanding and requires careful control of sample thickness, vitrification, cutting temperature, knife condition, compression, and section transfer.
Leica describes the FC7 as a low-temperature chamber that converts the UC7 ultramicrotome into a cryo-sectioning system suitable for ultrathin cryo-sections and the preparation of cryogenic material.