Videography of cells in vivo
A new microscope has shown the work of cells inside the body in 3D
Alexey Yevglevsky, Naked Science
A group of scientists from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (USA) combined previous developments in the field of microscopes to create a new one that showed the work of a living cell in 3D, National Geographic reports.
The research group was headed by Eric Betzig, winner of the 2014 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for "the development of high–resolution fluorescence microscopy". He combined two old technologies in three microscopes to create something completely new.
According to the physicist, the problem with modern fluorescent microscopes is that they use very bright light sources. Such brightness can damage or even destroy the cell. "Life has not developed in such a way as to perceive such surpluses," the scientist says. – If you don't destroy the nucleus, you always ask yourself: "What have I done with this poor organism, is it normal?" By improving the technology of lattice light microscopy, which Eric himself developed in 2010, he was able to examine the cell without damage and in richer details.
Movie 9 - Immune cell migration in the zebrafish inner ear from HHMI NEWS on Vimeo.
Immune cells move in the perilymphatic space of the inner ear of the danio embryo and collect sugar particles (blue). Another 17 impressive videos can be seen in the collection on Vimeo – VM.
As an example, experts took the danio-rerio fish, or, as they say, "Ladies' Stocking", – its embryos are transparent and easy to observe. However, even in this case, taking pictures of cells inside the body is difficult. The cells on the surface of the fish act like water on the windshield, obscuring and scattering any light. The experience of astronomers who use the so-called adaptive optics helped to correct this shortcoming. It takes into account distortions caused by the Earth's atmosphere, corrects them and improves image quality. Eric Betzig explained:
"If you know how the light is distorted, you can change the shape of the mirror so as to create the opposite distortion, which cancels the initial aberrations. Studying a cage under glass is like looking at a lion in a zoo: you don't see his natural behavior. Looking at a cell in an organism is like a lion chasing an antelope in the savannah."
Now the microscope is able to show cellular interactions only in transparent organisms. It is impossible to look under the human skin yet, but already now this technology promises important discoveries. For example, doctors will be able to observe healthy and diseased cells inside the body and note the difference between them. In the future, this will affect the research and testing of medicines.
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