. The Biological bulletin. Biology; Zoology; Biology; Marine Biology. 206 REPORTS FROM THE MBL GENERAL SCIENTIFIC MEETINGS Reference:/;/.-/ Hull. 189: 206. (October/November, 1995) Quantifying Single and Bundled Microtubules with the Polarized Light Microscope Phong Tran, E. D. Salmon, and Rudolf Oldenbourg (Marine Biological Laboratory) Polarized light microscopy has been an important tool for noninvasive imaging of fine structures directly in living cells (1). One of us () has improved the polarizing microscope by developing a precision universal compensator made of electron- ically cont
. The Biological bulletin. Biology; Zoology; Biology; Marine Biology. 206 REPORTS FROM THE MBL GENERAL SCIENTIFIC MEETINGS Reference:/;/.-/ Hull. 189: 206. (October/November, 1995) Quantifying Single and Bundled Microtubules with the Polarized Light Microscope Phong Tran, E. D. Salmon, and Rudolf Oldenbourg (Marine Biological Laboratory) Polarized light microscopy has been an important tool for noninvasive imaging of fine structures directly in living cells (1). One of us () has improved the polarizing microscope by developing a precision universal compensator made of electron- ically controlled liquid crystal devices and circular polarizers. Combined with special processing software, the new "pol-scope" can image cellular fine structures with high sensitivity and res- olution, irrespective of specimen orientation (2). We have used the pol-scope to image and quantify the inherent optical properties of single and bundled microtubules. The ability to image the dynamics of a single microtubule in real time has been demonstrated with light microscopy techniques such as darkfield, differential interference contrast (DIG), and fluores- cence. However, each of these techniques has limitations that make them non-ideal for quantitative measurements of micro- tubule density and distribution. For instance, darkfield and DIG microscopy, while noninvasive, cannot image and quantify the number of microtubules in a dense region of microtubules found in the mitotic spindle; and fluorescence microscopy, while quantitative, is invasive and suffers from photobleaching. The pol-scope is noninvasive, does not suffer from photobleaching, and is quantitative because it measures the inherent optical properties of microtubules. Phosphocellulose-purified bovine brain tubulin was allowed to spontaneously assemble into microtubules, and was then sta- bilized with 10 uAf taxol. The stabilized single microtubules were induced to form bundles of various numbers by the addition of in
Size: 1469px × 1700px
Photo credit: © Library Book Collection / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookauthorlilliefrankrat, booksubjectbiology, booksubjectzoology
