Expansion Microscopy Imaging Technique and Its Application

Publication date: May 2019Source: Chinese Journal of Analytical Chemistry, Volume 47, Issue 5Author(s): Kai CHEN, Ying-Chun ZHANG, Guan-Fang ZHAOAbstractDue to the limitations of optical diffraction, traditional optical microscopes have insufficient resolution to observe subcellular microstructures. Super-resolution microscopy, awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2014, has been used extensively in single-molecule imaging of microstructures. As a new super-resolution microscopy, expansion microscopy (ExM) has the advantages of short imaging time and can mark dense biological macromolecules. This paper describes the imaging principles and characteristics of ExM, and reviews its applications in subcellular structures, neurobiology and other fields.Graphical AbstractUnlike other super-resolution methods, expansion microscopy in which fixed samples are physically expanded can undergo super-resolution imaging by conventional fluorescence microscopy. The resolution of it can reach at least 70 nm. It has been applied to research on biological macromolecules, cultured cells, tissues, and clinical samples.
Source: Chinese Journal of Analytical Chemistry - Category: Chemistry Source Type: research