Optical chamber system designed for microscopic observation of living cells under extremely high hydrostatic pressure.
A novel pressure chamber system has been developed for the study of living cells under conditions of extremely high hydrostatic pressure up to 100 MPa (1 atm = 0.101325 MPa). The temperature in the chamber is thermostatically controlled in the range from 2 degrees to 80 degrees C. Two high-pressure pumps are employed for continuous perfusion of the chamber with culture medium and a chemical solution under high hydrostatic pressure conditions. The chamber has a 2-mm-thick glass window 2 mm in diameter, with a minimum working distance of 3.8 mm. The chamber system is designed to be adaptable to a variety of microscopic and imaging techniques. Using this chamber system, we successfully carried out real-time observations of elongated Escherichia coli and rounded HeLa cells under pressure.
Koyama
S
S
Frontier Research System for Extremophiles, Japan Marine Science and Technology Center, Yokosuka. skoyama@jamstec.go.jp
Miwa
T
T
Sato
T
T
Aizawa
M
M
D018929:Cell Culture Techniques / Q000295:instrumentation*; D048429:Cell Size; D004867:Equipment Design; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000166:cytology / Q000254:growth & development; D006367:HeLa Cells; D006801:Humans; D006874:Hydrostatic Pressure; D008853:Microscopy / Q000295:instrumentation*; D055095:Optics and Photonics / Q000295:instrumentation; D013696:Temperature