Vega lmu sem microscope

Formed fibrin gels were washed in distilled water thrice for 15 min each to remove excess salt and fixed in 2.5% glutaraldehyde (v/v) in phosphate buffer saline (PBS) solution for 2 h at 4 °C. Gels were dehydrated in a graded series of 50%, 75%, and two 100% (v/v) ethanol/distilled water solutions for 15 min each. Dehydrated gels were placed in a Baltec CPD 030 critical point dryer (Leica Microsystems, Milton Keynes, Watford, UK) to replace ethanol with liquid CO₂ before removal. Once dried, gels were mounted on aluminium stubs, sputter-coated with approximately 10 nm gold using a Polaron E5000 sputter coater (Quorum Technologies, Laughton, UK), and observed under a Tescan VEGA LMU SEM microscope (Tescan, Cambridge, UK) with an accelerating voltage of 8.0 kV and working distance of 8–10.0 mm. Images were then analysed using ImageJ. Images at 25 k magnification were divided into four quadrants, and within each quadrant three representative fibre or pore diameters were measured. Two images for each fibrinogen concentration were assessed giving 24 measurements for statistical analysis.

Membrane‐bound epithelial cells were fixed in 2.5% glutaraldehyde, dehydrated in graded ethanol, and placed in a Baltec CPD 030 critical point dryer (Leica), gold coated and observed under a Tescan VEGA LMU SEM microscope (Tescan, Cambridge, UK) as described previously.⁴