Main description:

The imaging of small cellular components requires powerful instruments, and an entire family of equipment and techniques based on the confocal principle has been developed over the past 30 years. Such methods are commonly used by neuroscience researchers, but the majority of these users do not have a microscopy or a cell biology backgrounds and do can encounter difficulties in obtaining and interpreting results. This volume brings experts in high-resolution optical microscopy applications in neuroscience and cell biology together to document the state of the art. Outlining what is currently possible, the volume also discusses promising developments for the future and aids readers in selecting the most scientifically meaningful approach to solve their questions. Each chapter discusses instrumentation and technology in relationship to application in research. All of the common and cutting edge trends are covered - fluorescence / laser electron / nonlinear microscopy, infrared fluorescence, multiphoton imaging, tomography, FRAP, live imaging, STED, PALM/STORM, etc.

Contents:

1. Confocal laser scanning: Of instrument, computer processing, and men Jeroen A.M. Belien and Floris G. Wouterlood

2. Beyond Abbe's resolution barrier: STED microscopy U. Valentin Nagerl

3. Enhancement of optical resolution by 4pi single and multiphoton confocal fluorescence microscopy W.A. van Cappellen, A. Nigg, and A.B. Houtsmuller

4. Nano resolution optical imaging through localization microscopy Helge Ewers

5. Optical investigation of brain networks using structured illumination Marco Dal Maschio, Francesco Difato, Riccardo Beltramo, Angela Michela De Stasi, Axel Blau, and Tommaso Fellin

6. Multiphoton microscopy advances toward super resolution Paolo Bianchini, Partha P. Mondal, Shilpa Dilipkumar, Francesca Cella Zanacchi, Emiliano Ronzitti, and Alberto Diaspro

7. The cell at molecular resolution: Principles and applications of cryo-electron tomography Ruben Fernandez-Busnadiego and Vladan Lucic

8. Cellular-level optical biopsy using full-field optical coherence microscopy Arnaud Dubois

9. Retroviral labeling and imaging of newborn neurons in the adult brain Kurt A. Sailor, Hongjun Song, and Guo-Li Ming

10. Study of myelin sheaths by CARS microscopy Chun-Rui Hu, Bing Hu, and Ji-Xen Cheng

11. High-resolution approaches to studying presynaptic vesicle dynamics using variants of FRAP and electron microscopy Kevin Staras and Tiago Branco