Live cell flattening - traditional and novel approaches.
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.
Westendorf
Christian
C
Max-Planck-Institut für Dynamik und Selbstorganisation, 37077 Göttingen, Germany. beta@uni-potsdam.de.
Bae
Albert J
AJ
Erlenkamper
Christoph
C
Galland
Edouard
E
Franck
Carl
C
Bodenschatz
Eberhard
E
Beta
Carsten
C
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