Figure 1
Schematic side view of carbon + formvar film orientation on mesh grid with seeded monolayer cells in dish. (A) A mesh grid (black bars) with C + F film (C, blue line; F, red line) facing upwards provides an even surface for monolayer cells (green symbols) to grow and differentiate homogeneously, but the gap with size of metal mesh between cells and objective (eye, grey) complicates focusing during fluorescence microscopy. As the mesh grid is covered by the monolayer after dehydration and drying for SEM, a STEM detector is required to re-identify areas of interest. (B) A mesh grid with C + F film facing downwards provides minimal gap between cellular monolayer and objective, leading to better and more stable focusing during imaging. Due to its distinct topographic differences at the edges of each mesh hole, growth of monolayer cells is uneven. In SEM, re-identification of specific holes does not require specific detectors, as the metal mesh is clearly visible by standard detectors.
