The Bullivant freeze-cleave technique has been modified to allow for the casting of replicas of the faces produced both above and below a single cleavage through frozen specimens. Analysis of replicas of paired fracture faces indicates that membrane faces normally revealed by cleaving
The Bullivant freeze-cleave technique has been modified to allow for the casting of replicas of the faces produced both above and below a single cleavage through frozen specimens. Analysis of replicas of paired fracture faces indicates that membrane faces normally revealed by cleaving are complementary and originate from the interior of the cell membrane. The thickness of the layers demonstrated by cleaving and heat-etching indicates that the potential cleavage plane from which membrane Face A and B are generated exists near the center of the membrane. The results provide physical evidence for the presence of a lipid bilayer within