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Scanning microphotolysis: A new photobleaching technique based on fast intensity modulation of a scanned laser beam and confocal imaging
Author(s) -
WEDEKIND P.,
KUBITSCHECK U.,
PETERS R.
Publication year - 1994
Publication title -
journal of microscopy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.569
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1365-2818
pISSN - 0022-2720
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2818.1994.tb03496.x
Subject(s) - photobleaching , confocal , optics , laser scanning , materials science , confocal microscopy , scanning confocal electron microscopy , microscope , galvanometer , sted microscopy , digital micromirror device , laser , optical sectioning , microscopy , fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy , fluorescence , nanotechnology , physics , stimulated emission
Summary The fluorescence photobleaching method has been widely used to study molecular transport in single living cells and other microsystems while confocal microscopy has opened new avenues to high‐resolution, three‐dimensional imaging. A new technique, scanning microphotolysis (Scamp), combines the potential of photobleaching, beam scanning and confocal imaging. A confocal scanning laser microscope was equipped with a sufficiently powerful laser and a novel device, the ‘Scamper’. This consisted essentially of a filter changer, an acousto‐optical modulator (AOM) and a computer. The computer was programmed to activate the AOM during scanning according to a freely defined image mask. As a result almost any desired pattern could be bleached (‘written’) into fluorescent samples at high definition and then imaged (‘read’) at non‐bleaching conditions, employing full confocal resolution. Furthermore, molecular transport could be followed by imaging the dissipation of bleach patterns. Experiments with living cells concerning dynamic processes in cytoskeletal filaments and the lateral mobility of membrane lipids suggest a wide range of potential biological applications. Thus, Scamp offers new possibilities for the optical manipulation and analysis of both technical and biological microsystems.