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Interference Microscopy in Cell Biophysics. 2. Visualization of Individual Cells and Energy-Transducing Organelles

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Abstract

The coherent phase microscopy (CPM) provides a convenient and non-invasive tool for imaging cells and intracellular organelles. In this article, we consider the applications of the CPM method to imaging different cells and energy-transducing intracellular organelles (mitochondria and chloroplasts). Experimental data presented below demonstrate that the optical path length difference of the object, which is the basic optical parameter measured by the CPM method, can serve as an indicator of metabolic states of different biological objects at cellular and subcellular levels of structural organization.

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Abbreviations

CPM:

Coherent phase microscopy

DPM:

Dynamic phase microscopy

OPLD:

Optical path length difference

h(x):

The OPDL profile along a certain scan line

Δh :

The height of the OPDL profile

Δn :

Refractivity

ATP:

Adenosine triphosphate

CCCP:

Carbonylcyanide-3-chlorophenyl hydrazone

DCMU:

3-(3,4-dichloro-phenyl)-1,1-dimethylurea.

DBMIB:

2,5-dibromo-3-methyl-6-isopropyl-p-benzoquinone

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Acknowledgments

The authors consider their pleasant duty to express a lot of thanks to the MIREA Laboratory staff and to list our collaborators, A.V. Kretushev and T.V. Vyshenskaja, who made a principal contribution to CPM measurements reviewed above. Fruitful discussions and cooperation were with A.A. Shtil, L.S. Yaguzhinsky, O.V. Zatsepina and G.I. El’Registan. We thank the anonymous referees for critical reading of the manuscript. This work was partly supported by grants 06-04-48620 and 09-04-00978 from the Russian Foundation for Basic Researches.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Moscow State Institute for Radioengineering, Electronics and Automation, Prosp. Vernadskogo 78, Moscow, Russia, 119454

    Vladimir P. Tychinsky

  2. Faculty of Physics, M.V. Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow, Russia, 119992

    Alexander N. Tikhonov

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  1. Vladimir P. Tychinsky
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  2. Alexander N. Tikhonov
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Correspondence to Vladimir P. Tychinsky or Alexander N. Tikhonov.

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Tychinsky, V.P., Tikhonov, A.N. Interference Microscopy in Cell Biophysics. 2. Visualization of Individual Cells and Energy-Transducing Organelles. Cell Biochem Biophys 58, 117–128 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12013-010-9115-y

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