title: Live cell flattening - traditional and novel approaches.
abstract: Eukaryotic cell flattening is valuable for improving microscopic observations, ranging from bright field (BF) to total internal reflection fluorescence (TIRF) microscopy. Fundamental processes, such as mitosis and in vivo actin polymerization, have been investigated using these techniques. Here, we review the well known agar overlayer protocol and the oil overlay method. In addition, we present more elaborate microfluidics-based techniques that provide us with a greater level of control. We demonstrate these techniques on the social amoebae Dictyostelium discoideum, comparing the advantages and disadvantages of each method.PACS Codes: 87.64.-t, 47.61.-k, 87.80.Ek.
authors.affiliation: Max-Planck-Institut für Dynamik und Selbstorganisation, 37077 Göttingen, Germany. beta@uni-potsdam.de.
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Westendorf
authors.forename: Albert J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Bae
authors.forename: Christoph
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Erlenkamper
authors.forename: Edouard
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Galland
authors.forename: Carl
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Franck
authors.forename: Eberhard
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Bodenschatz
authors.forename: Carsten
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Beta
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