Figure 2: Structural preservation of deep tissue in silica replicas of chicken embryos. | Nature Communications

Figure 2: Structural preservation of deep tissue in silica replicas of chicken embryos.

From: Synthetic fossilization of soft biological tissues and their shape-preserving transformation into silica or electron-conductive replicas

Figure 2

(a) Silica replica of a 4-day-old chicken embryo fractured post silicification and subsequently calcined (scale bar, 1 mm). The inset shows an energy-dispersive X-ray spectrum (EDS) of the silica replica. Arrow in a shows the exposed internal tissue magnified via SEM in b and further magnified in c, scale bar, 20 μm. (d) Silica replica of a white blood cell (arrow) nestled among SBR red blood cells within a blood vessel in chicken embryo liver (scale bar, 10 μm). (e) Silica replica of heart from a 17-day-old chicken embryo (scale bar, 2 mm). (f) SEM of the surface of a blood vessel (denoted by arrow in panel e) and further magnified in g showing red blood cell replicas bound to presumable elastin and collagenous fibres with diameters spanning microns (1) to 10s of nanometres (2, indicates ~60–80 nm fibres). SEM images were acquired following sputter coating of Au/Pd to a thickness of 10 nm.

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