title: In situ fluorescence imaging of organs through compact scanning head for confocal laser microscopy.
abstract: We develop a compact scanning head for use in laser confocal fluorescence microscopy for in situ fluorescence imaging of organs. The head, cylindrical in shape, has 3.5 mm diameter and 30 mm length, and is thus small enough to operate in a living rat heart. The lateral and axial resolutions, defined as full widths at half maximum (FWHM) of a point spread function (PSF), measures 1.0 and 5.0 microm, respectively, for 488-nm excitation and 1.0 and 5.4 microm, respectively, for 543-nm excitation. The chromatic aberration between 488- and 543-nm laser beams is well suppressed. We perform Ca2+ imaging in cardiomyocytes through the right ventricular chamber of a perfused rat heart in line-scan mode with 2.9-ms time resolution. We also carried out two-color imaging of a fixed mouse heart and liver with subcellular resolution. The compact head of the microscope equipped with a line-scan imaging mode and two-color imaging mode is useful for in situ imaging in living organs with subcellular resolution and can advantageously be applied to in vivo research.
authors.affiliation: Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine, Department of Pathology and Cell Regulation, Kawaramachi-Hirokoji, Kyoto 602-8566, Japan.
authors.forename: Taisuke
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ota
authors.forename: Hiroya
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Fukuyama
authors.forename: Yasushige
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ishihara
authors.forename: Hideo
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Tanaka
authors.forename: Tetsuro
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Takamatsu
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002118:Calcium / Q000378:metabolism*; D003116:Color; D006321:Heart; D006352:Heart Ventricles; D066298:In Vitro Techniques; D008099:Liver / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D008297:Male; D018613:Microscopy, Confocal / Q000379:methods*; D008856:Microscopy, Fluorescence; D032383:Myocytes, Cardiac / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D010477:Perfusion; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar
chemical_list: D002118:Calcium