Accomplishments of "Old-Fashioned" Electron Microscopy in the Period of Dominance of Immunofluorescent Methods.

The goal of this review is to bring to the attention of the scientific community the opportunities of transmission electron microscopy for analyses of biological subjects and resolving complicated cases of data interpretation. Although procedures for electron microscopy are in general more elaborate (particularly for simultaneous immunolabeling of multiple antigens) compared to fluorescent microscopy, they can help view cellular morpho-functional features undetectable using other methods. In this review, we consider several unexpected and serendipitous discoveries made in our laboratory and fulfilled using unique opportunities provided by electron microscopy of ultrathin sections. We are deliberating the following topics: interpretation of unusual results of immunolabeling; a novel method for in situ identification of cells undergoing mitochondrial disorder and necrosis-like death; the sequence of organelles' reorganization in dying cells; simultaneous rupture of nuclear and plasma membranes in migrating neurons; and the role of cytoskeleton in lateral expansion of the cerebral cortex.