Selective decoration of hydrophilic moieties of membrane molecules in freeze fracture

Abstract

Selective decoration of the hydrophilic moieties of phospholipid molecules on freeze fractured bilayer faces was made using residue water vapor in an oil-free vacuum unit. The preferential decoration technique was applied to label structural faults of bilayers, such as domain boundaries and other regions of molecular dislocation which are not visible by conventional morphological observations.