Eur. Phys. J. D 30, 235-241 (2004)
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjd/e2004-00084-4

Soft X-ray contact microscopy of nematode Caenorhabditis elegans^*

¹ INFM, CIMAINA, and Istituto di Fisiologia Generale e Chimica Biologica, Università di Milano, Via Trentacoste 2, 20134 Milano, Italy
² Dipartimento di Fisica “G.Occhialini", Università di Milano Bicocca, Piazza della Scienza 3, 20126 Milano, Italy
³ PALS Research Centre, Za Slovankou 3, 18221 Prague 8, Czech Republic
⁴ Dipartimento di Biologia, Università di Milano, Via Celoria 26, 20133 Milano, Italy
⁵ Dipartimento di Biotecnologie e Bioscienze, Università di Milano Bicocca, Piazza della Scienza 2, 20126 Milano, Italy

Corresponding author: ^a Giulio.Poletti@unimi.it

Received: 18 February 2004
Published online: 29 June 2004

Abstract

Soft X-ray Contact Microscopy (SXCM) of Caenorhabditis elegans nematodes with typical length ~800 m and diameter ~30 m has been performed using the PALS laser source of wavelength m and pulse duration  ps. Pulsed soft X-rays were generated using molybdenum and gold targets with laser intensities  W/cm². Images have been recorded on PMMA photo resists and analyzed using an atomic force microscope operating in contact mode. Cuticle features and several internal organs have been identified in the SXCM images including lateral field, cuticle annuli, pharynx, and hypodermal and neuronal cell nuclei.