Explore Intercellular Transport Pathways in Plants using Tescan Xe plasma FIB-SEM

Why Conventional Imaging Fails to Capture fine Phloem Structures

Studying intercellular transport in plants depends on seeing the full 3D architecture of phloem tissue. But features like plasmodesmata are too small and deeply embedded for light microscopy or manual sectioning to capture reliably.

Focused Ion Beam (FIB) milling overcomes these limitations by sequentially removing ultra-thin slices of the sample. This achieves nanometer-scale resolution in the Z axis and enables accurate 3D reconstruction of fine phloem structures.

Tescan Xe Plasma FIB-SEM provides nanometer-scale resolution in the Z axis, enabling capturing tiny structures which would not be possible using an ultramicrotome.

Explore how intercellular transport unfolds in plants using Tescan Xe Plasma FIB-SEM without losing spatial context or missing critical structural features.

How Plant Transport Structures Were Imaged Using Tescan Xe Plasma FIB-SEM

Resin-embedded tissue from Arabidopsis thaliana was trimmed to expose vascular regions containing phloem cells.

Automated FIB-SEM tomography was performed using Tescan Xe Plasma FIB-SEM, combining high-throughput Xe ion milling with Ultra-high resolution SEM imaging with in-beam Tescan Low-energy BSE detector at 2 keV. Each layer was sequentially milled away and imaged, producing ~900 of high-resolution images with 4 nm slice thickness and 4nm  pixel size.

3D volume reconstruction and segmentation were carried out using Tescan Volume Analysis Software. Researchers identified sieve cells, plasmodesmata, and internal organelles in 3D, with structural continuity across the tissue.

With this approach, researchers studied intercellular transport architecture in situ, preserving spatial relationships without distortion or loss of cellular context.

3D Visualization of Phloem Architecture in Plant Tissue

Tescan Xe Plasma FIB-SEM enabled researchers to acquire Ultra-high high resolution datasets from resin-embedded Arabidopsis phloem tissue. Serial sectioning with Xe plasma combined with Tescan Low-energy BSE detecor imaging revealed cellular structures which would be impossible to capture with conventional methods.

Sieve plates, cells, and plasmodesmata were clearly visualized in 3D, along with associated organelles and membrane interfaces. The reconstructed volumes revealed how phloem cells are spatially arranged and how structural changes such as cytoplasmic thinning and enucleation contribute to transport function.

With segmentation and 3D rendering, researchers identified transport pathways between cells and analyzed how architectural features influence molecular flow.

Sample courtesy of Dr. Ilya Belevich, EMBI, University of Helsinki.