Table of Contents

 

 

Introduction – the optical microscope in cell biology

                        Brief historical overview from Robert Hooke (cells, 1685) through Swammerdam, van Leeuwenhoek (sperm, bacteria, blood cells), Robert Browne (nucleus), Schwann & Schleiden (cell theory), Lister (corrected objectives), Abbe, etc. 

 

Chapter 1 - The light microscope   

                        Lenses and microscopes                     

                                    The Back Focal Plane of a lens

                        Good resolution                     

                                    Resolution - Rayleigh’s  approach     

                                    Abbe                           

                                    Add a drop of oil ...    

                        Köhler Illumination    

                        References

 

Chapter 2 – Optical contrasting techniques

                        Darkfield                    

                        Phase contrast                        

                        Differential interference contrast

                        Hoffman Modulation Contrast

                        Which technique is the best? 

                        Polarization

                        References

 

Chapter 3 - Fluorescence and fluorescence microscopes  

                        What is fluorescence?

                                    How molecules fluoresce       

                                    What makes a molecule fluorescent? 

                                    Pathways for de-excitation – photobleaching

                                    Quantum yield and extinction coefficient 

                        The fluorescence microscope 

                                    Optical arrangement  

                                    Light source               

                                    Filter sets        

                        References

 

Chapter 4 – Image capture

                        Optical layout for image capture

                        Color recording

                                    Additive color model

                                    Subtractive color model

                        CCD cameras             

                                    Frame transfer           

                                    Interline transfer

                                    Back illumination

                                    Binning           

                        Capturing color

                                    Filter wheels

                                    Filter mosaics

                                    Three CCD with beamsplitters

                        References

 

Chapter 5 - The confocal microscope

                        The scanning optical microscope

The confocal principle

                        Resolution and Point Spread Function

                                    Lateral resolution in the confocal microscope

                        Practical confocal microscopes

                           The light source – lasers

                                    Gas lasers

                                    Solid state lasers        

                                    Semiconductor lasers

                                    Supercontinuum lasers

                           Laser delivery         

                                    The primary beamsplitter

                                    Beam Scanning

                                    Pinhole and signal channel configurations

                           Detectors     

                        References

                        Further reading

 

Chapter 6 – The digital image

                        Pixels and voxels       

                        Contrast         

                        Spatial sampling - the Nyquist criterion

                        Temporal sampling  - signal to noise ratio

                        Multichannel images  

                        References

                        Further reading

 

Chapter 7 – Aberrations and their consequences

                        Geometrical aberrations                                 

                                    Spherical aberration  

                                    Coma 

                                    Astigmatism

                                    Field curvature

                        Chromatic aberrations

                                    Axial chromatic aberration    

                                    Chromatic difference of magnification

                        Practical consequences

                                    Apparent depth

                        References

                        Further reading

 

Chapter 8 - Non linear microscopy            

                        Multiphoton microscopy

                           Principles of multiphoton fluorescence

                                    Theory and practice   

                                    Lasers for non-linear microscopy

                                    Advantages of two-photon excitation

                        Construction of a multiphoton microscope    

                                    Fluorochromes for multiphoton microscopy  

                        Second harmonic microscopy

                        Summary

                        References

                        Further reading

 

Chapter 9 - High-speed confocal

                        Tandem scanning (spinning disk) microscopes

                                    Petràn system

                                    One-sided TSM

                                    Microlens array: the Yokogawa system

                                    Costs and benefits of disk-based systems

                        Slit scanning microscopes

                        Multi-point array scanners

                        Structured illumination

                        References

                        Further reading

 

Chapter 10 - Deconvolution and image processing  Guy Cox & Nuno Moreno

                        Deconvolution           

                                    Deconvolving confocal images

                        Image processing

                                    Grayscale operations

                                    Image arithmetic

Convolution: smoothing and sharpening

                        References

                        Further reading

 

Chapter 11 - Three dimensional imaging - stereoscopy & reconstruction

                        Surfaces – 2½ dimensions     

                        Perception of the 3D world   

                                    Motion parallax

                                    Convergence and focus of our eyes

                                    Perspective

                                    Concealment of one object by another

                                    Our knowledge of the size and shape of everyday things

                                    Light and Shade

                        Limitations of confocal microscopy  

                        Stereoscopy                

                        Three-dimensional reconstruction      

                           Techniques which require objects to be identified

                           Techniques which create views directly from intensity data

                                    Simple projections      

                                    Weighted projection (alpha blending)

                        References

 

Chapter 12 – Green Fluorescent Protein

                        Structure and properties of GFP

                        GFP variants

                        Applications of GFP

                                    Heat shock

                                    Cationic lipid reagents

                                    DEAE-dextran and polybrene

                                    Calcium phosphate co-precipitation

                                    Electroporation

                                    Microinjection

                                    Gene gun

                                    Plants: Agrobacterium

                        References

 

Chapter 13 – Fluorescent staining  Guy Cox, Teresa Dibbayawan & Eleanor Kable

                        Immunolabelling        

Types of antibodies

                        Raising antibodies

                        Labeling

                        Fluorescent stains for cell components and compartments

                        References

 

Chapter 14 - Quantitative fluorescence

                        Fluorescence intensity measurements

                                    Linearity Calibration

                                    Measurement

                                    Colocalization

                                    Ratio imaging

                                    Cell loading

                        Membrane potential

                                    Fast response dyes

                                    Slow response dyes

                        Fluorescence recovery after photobleaching

                        References

 

Chapter 15 – Advanced fluorescence techniques: FLIM, FRET and FCS

                        Fluorescence Lifetime

                        Practical Lifetime Microscopy (FLIM)

                                    Frequency domain     

                                    Time domain  

                        Fluorescence Resonant Energy Transfer (FRET)

                           Why use FRET?      

                           Identifying and quantifying FRET 

                                    Increase in brightness of acceptor emission

                                    Quenching of emission from the donor

                                    Lifetime of donor emission

                                    Protection from bleaching of donor   

                        Fluorescence correlation spectroscopy (FCS)

                        Raster Image Correlation Spectroscopy

                        References

                        Further reading

 

Chapter 16 – Evanescent Wave Microscopy

                        The near field and evanescent waves

                                    Total internal reflection microscopy

                        Near field microscopy

                        References

 

Chapter 17 – Beyond the Diffraction Limit

                        4-pi and multiple objective microscopy

                        Stimulated emission depletion (STED)

                        Structured illumination

                        Stochastic techniques

                        Super-resolution summary

                        References

 

Appendix A – Microscope care and maintenance  

                        Cleaning

                        The fluorescent illuminator

                       

Appendix B – Keeping cells alive under the microscope. Guy Cox & Eleanor Kable. 

                        Chambers

                        Light

                        Movement

                        Finally

 

Appendix C –Antibody labeling of plant and animal cells: tips and sample schedules.  Eleanor Kable & Teresa Dibbayawan

                        Antibodies: Tips on Handling and Storage

.                                   Pipettes: Tips on Handling

                                    Antibodies and Antibody Titrations

                                    Example

                        Immunofluorescence Protocol

                                    Methods

                                    Multiple labeling and different samples

                           Plant material

                                    Protocol

                        Diagram showing position of antibodies on multiwell slide

 

Appendix D –  Image processing with Image J.  Nuno Moreno.

                        Introduction

                        Different windows in Image J

                                    Image levels

                                    Colors and look-up tables

                        Size calibration

                        Image math

                        Quantification

                        Stacks and 3D representation

                        FFT and image processing

                        Macro language in Image J

 

Index