Keith Porter, Mary Bonneville (2011) CIL:7739, Chiroptera, pancreatic cell. CIL. Dataset

Here a mitochondrion is sliced approximately through its midplane, so both its outer membrane and the infoldings of its inner membrane are clearly seen. The organization of the inner membrane is particularly clear due to the good preservation of the cell, the thinness of the section, and the quality of this micrograph (note places where the continuity of the inner membrane with the 'cristae' that occupy the inner part of the organelle are clear). The interior of the mitochondrion is filled with a comparatively dense matrix, which includes darkly staining spherical objects that are probably crystals of calcium phosphate. Also clear is the wealth of ribosomes in the cytoplasm outside the mitochondrion. Electron micrographs like this, obtained in the early 1960s by expert microscopists, like Keith Porter and his students, opened the eyes of the scientific community to the complexity and beauty of the organization found in cells. These images are the cornerstones upon which the foundations of cell biology as a field of study were built.

此处呈现的线粒体切片穿过其中心平面，其外膜及其内膜的折叠均清晰可见。由于细胞的良好保存状态、切片的薄度以及此显微照片的高品质，内膜的组织结构显得尤为清晰（请注意，内膜与占据细胞器内部空间的‘嵴’之间的连续性在此图上显示得十分明确）。线粒体的内部充满相对致密的基质，其中包含着深染的球形物体，这些物体很可能是磷酸钙晶体。此外，线粒体外围的细胞质中丰富的核糖体也清晰可见。此类电子显微镜图像，由像Keith Porter及其学生这样的显微学家在20世纪60年代初获得，使科学界对细胞中发现的组织结构的复杂性和美感大开眼界。这些图像是细胞生物学作为一门研究领域建立的基础。