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Application of STED Microscopy to Cell Biology Questions

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Advanced Fluorescence Microscopy

Part of the book series: Methods in Molecular Biology ((MIMB,volume 1251))

Abstract

The increasing interest in “seeing” the molecular environment in biological systems has led to the recent quest for breaking the diffraction barrier in far-field fluorescence microscopy. The first nanoscopy method successfully applied to conventional biological probes was stimulated emission depletion microscopy (STED). It is based on a physical principle that instantly delivers diffraction-unlimited images, with no need for further computational processing: the excitation laser beam is overlaid with a doughnut-shaped depleting beam that switches off previously excited fluorophores, thereby resulting in what is effectively a smaller imaging volume. In this chapter we give an overview of several applications of STED microscopy to biological questions. We explain technical aspects of sample preparation and image acquisition that will help in obtaining good diffraction-unlimited pictures. We also present embedding techniques adapted for ultrathin sectioning, which allow optimal 3D resolutions in virtually all biological preparations.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Nicolai T. Urban for advice and for reading the manuscript, Felipe Opazo for providing images used in Fig. 4, and Christina Schäfer and Katharina Kröhnert for technical assistance. S.O.R. acknowledges the support of a Starting Grant from the European Research Council, Program FP7 (NANOMAP). N.H.R. acknowledges the support of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (SFB 889).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Neuro- and Sensory Physiology, University Medical Center Göttingen, Humboldtallee 23, Göttingen, Germany

    Natalia H. Revelo & Silvio O. Rizzoli

  2. International Max Planck Research School for Neurosciences, Göttingen, Germany

    Natalia H. Revelo

  3. Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft Center for Molecular Physiology of the Brain/Excellence Cluster 171, University of Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany

    Silvio O. Rizzoli

Authors
  1. Natalia H. Revelo
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  2. Silvio O. Rizzoli
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Natalia H. Revelo .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Systemic Cell Biology, Max Planck Institute of Molecular Physiology, Dortmund, Germany

    Peter J. Verveer

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Revelo, N.H., Rizzoli, S.O. (2015). Application of STED Microscopy to Cell Biology Questions. In: Verveer, P. (eds) Advanced Fluorescence Microscopy. Methods in Molecular Biology, vol 1251. Humana Press, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-2080-8_12

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-2080-8_12

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  • Publisher Name: Humana Press, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4939-2079-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4939-2080-8

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