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Chapter 33

Visualizing Cells, Tissues, and Molecules

Optical microscopy uses optic principles to provide detailed images of samples. Antonie van Leeuwenhoek designed the first compound optical microscope in …
Phase-Contrast Microscopes In-phase-contrast microscopes, interference between light directly passing through a cell and light refracted by cellular …
Two basic types of preparation are used to visualize specimens with a light microscope: wet mounts and fixed specimens. The simplest type of preparation …
A fluorescence microscope uses fluorescent chromophores called fluorochromes, which can absorb energy from a light source and then emit this energy as …
Immunocytochemistry (ICC) and immunohistochemistry (IHC) are techniques that use antibodies to check for specific proteins or antigens in a sample. The …
Confocal microscopy is an advanced microscopic technique. The prime advantage of the confocal microscope over other microscopy techniques is its ability …
Different fluorescence-based techniques are used to study the protein dynamics in living cells. These techniques include FRAP, FRET, and PET. Fluorescent …
Total internal reflection fluorescence microscopy or TIRF is an advanced microscopic technique used to visualize fluorophores in samples close to a solid …
Atomic force microscopy (AFM) is a type of scanning probe microscopy that can analyze topographic details of various specimens like ceramics, glass, …
Super-resolution fluorescence microscopy (SRFM) provides a better resolution than conventional fluorescence microscopy by reducing the point spread …
The wavelengths of visible light ultimately limit the maximum theoretical resolution of images created by light microscopes. Most light microscopes can …
A scanning electron microscope (SEM) is used to study the surface features of a sample by using an electron beam that scans the sample surface in a …
In 1931, physicist Ernst Ruska—building on the idea that magnetic fields can direct an electron beam just as lenses can direct a beam of light in an …
To be visualized by an electron microscope, either transmission or scanning, biological samples need to be fixed (stabilized) so the electron beam does …
Immunoelectron microscopy utilizes immunogold labeling of endogenous proteins with specific antibodies to detect and localize these proteins in cells and …
Conventional electron microscopy (EM) involves dehydration, fixation, and staining of biological samples, which distorts the native state of biological …
Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) can be used to determine the 3D structure of biological samples with the help of techniques such as electron …
The determination of the folding process of proteins from their amino acid sequence to their native 3D structure is an important problem in biology. …
Investigation of intercellular interactions often requires discrete labeling of specific cell populations and precise protein localization. The zebrafish …
Cryo-electron microscopy (cryoEM) is a powerful technique for structure determination of macromolecular complexes, via single particle analysis (SPA). The …