SELS: A New Method for Laser Scanning Microscopy of Live Cells

S. Reichelt and W. B. Amos, MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Cambridge, UK.

Full Article from Microscopy & Analysis November 2001 (PDF, 124kb).



Figure 4:
Tetrahymena stained with acridine orange and scanned with 488nm laser light. Green and red fluorescence from the macronucleus and organelles is equally visible in the two sequences (frame interval 125 ms) but without SELS the organism rounds up and stops swimming within 0.5 s: the other, at 95% lower laser power, continued to swim for several minutes.





Figure 5: A living rotifer (Brachionus) stained with acridine orange and scanned at 5 frames per second with SELS. The left-hand panels show a focal series with an interval of approximately 5 µm, showing optical sectioning. The three right-hand panels show dynamic movements of the muscular foot (frame interval 200 ms).



Figure 6: SELS images of nematode embryos (Caenorhabditis) taken at 1s intervals. GFP tubulin was excited by 488nm laser light. Oscillation of the poles can be seen and development continued normally for more than 5 minutes of continuous imaging.






Images from the Marine Biological Association Laboratory in Plymouth 2005

Brad's personal pages