浅析生物细胞相位显微技术研究进展

随着社会经济的迅速发展,医学领域有了一定的发展,生物细胞是构成生命的重要单位,而且一直都是业界主要研究的对象。生物细胞相位显微技术,作为一种非侵入式无损伤的生物细胞检测及研究工具,得到了研究人员广泛的关注。因此,加大对生物细胞相位显微技术的研究力度,具有现实意义。本文将对生物细胞定性相位显微技术、生物细胞定量相位显微技术以及生物细胞相位纤维技术的发展趋势进行研究,以此来推进生物相位显微技术的发展。     

液晶空间光调制器在生物光学显微中的应用

利用液晶空间光调制器(LCSLM)对光学显微中的成像光进行实时的相位/振幅调制,不仅可以实现各种传统的生物样品相位显微,而且能够以更复杂的相位调制方式,如螺旋相位滤波,得到新的显微图像。该方式已经和荧光显微、光镊技术结合,丰富了生物显微技术。     

生物光子学应用

生物光子学是光学技术与生命科学的交叉学科,可以在分子水平上研究细胞的功能和结构,包括生物系统的光子辐射以及这些光子携带的信息,用光子及其技术对生物系统进行检测、加工和改造等。激光扫描共焦显微术、双光子荧光显微术、近场光学扫描显微术和光镊等显微技术在生命科学研究中的应用非常重要。     

生物组织光声粘弹显微成像

提出一种反演生物组织粘弹信息的新型无损光声粘弹显微成像方法,它是以强度调制激光作为激发源,通过检测光声（Photoacoustic,PA）信号的相位重建组织粘弹特性分布的成像方法.实验利用不同浓度的琼脂样品来验证光声粘弹显微测量中相位随浓度变化的依赖关系.利用埋有头发丝的琼脂样品来测试这种显微方法的成像分辨率.利用具有不同粘弹性的离体生物组织来验证系统的成像能力.实验结果表明,这种新方法能够高分辨率和高对比度地重建出具有不同粘弹性的生物组织的光声粘弹显微图像,有望实现组织结晶类病变水平的显微在体检测.     

胶片吸附的激光显微切割技术及其在蛋白质组研究中的应用

组织显微切割在特定细胞亚群的比较研究中起着重要作用.新近发展的胶片吸附激光显微切割技术能从复杂的生物组织中快速准确地分离纯化出特定细胞亚群.在这项技术中,透明的乙烯乙酸乙烯基酯热塑性胶片覆盖于病理组织切片表面,CO₂激光束特异性作用于目的细胞群表面的胶片,胶片对细胞较强的吸附作用使得选择性自动移取目的细胞群成为可能.目前,这项技术已在蛋白质组分析中获得成功应用,并有望对其产生较深远的影响.     

偏振态显微成像技术用于细胞热损伤检测的研究

本文采用偏振态显微成像系统对生物细胞热损伤进行监测。选取洋葱细胞、绿萝细胞作为实验样品,对洋葱细胞、绿萝细胞进行热损伤,通过比较细胞在热损伤前后的偏振态图像及其相应的偏振特性的变化,分析热损伤细胞的偏振特性变化而获得相关信息。实验结果表明,偏振态显微成像技术对于鉴别正常细胞和热损伤的细胞并评价细胞的损伤程度非常有效,比显微光强成像更清晰地反映了细胞形态结构发生的变化,在生物样品的特性研究及疾病诊断方面都有独特的优势,为鉴别与评价细胞损伤程度提供一种快速的、无损的、有效的新方法。     

微透析校正的相关问题和方法

微透析技术是研究生物动态变化的一种新型的活体生物采样技术,近年来由于实验方法的不断改进,微透析技术已广泛应用于在体的定量研究。在进行生物细胞外液的定量研究中,微透析探针的校正是十分必要的。本从微透析的回收率、影响因素及校正方法等方面简要介绍了微透析校正的相关问题。     

Stokes参量共焦显微术用于弱各向异性物质的成像研究

提出将基于Stokes参量的偏振共焦显微成像技术应用于弱各向异性物质的成像研究。通过将分振幅Stokes参量测量法与共焦扫描成像技术相结合的方法,得到了基于Stokes参量测量的偏振共焦显微成像系统。利用该系统对具有弱各向异性的生物组织样品进行逐点测量,通过四个通道同时测量获得全部的Stokes参量。再以计算得到的偏振参量作为成像物理量进行图像重建,获得对应Stokes参量、偏振度、相位差、方位角和椭率角的空间分布图像,从而对生物组织实现细胞水平的偏振显微成像研究。实验结果表明:基于Stokes参量的偏振共焦显微成像技术能够获得弱各向异性的生物组织样品的显微图像,并通过比较样品的Stokes参量及相关偏振参量的分布图像,提取样品全部的偏振信息,从而为生物组织的特性研究提供更丰富的信息。     

基于AFM单细胞力谱技术的淋巴瘤细胞黏附力测量

细胞黏附在细胞生理功能中起着重要的调控作用,对细胞黏附行为进行定量研究有助于理解生命活动内在机制.原子力显微镜（AFM）的出现为研究溶液环境下微纳尺度生物系统的生物物理特性提供了强大工具,特别是AFM单细胞力谱（SCFS）技术可以对单细胞黏附力进行测量.但目前利用SCFS技术进行的研究主要集中在贴壁细胞,对于动物悬浮细胞黏附行为进行的研究还较为缺乏.本文利用AFM单细胞力谱技术（SCFS）对淋巴瘤细胞黏附行为进行了定量测量.研究了淋巴瘤细胞与其单克隆抗体药物利妥昔（利妥昔单抗与淋巴瘤细胞表面的CD20结合后激活免疫攻击）之间的黏附力,分析了利妥昔浓度及SCFS测量参数对黏附力的影响,并对淋巴瘤细胞之间的黏附力进行了测量.实验结果证明了SCFS技术探测动物悬浮细胞黏附行为的能力,加深了对淋巴瘤细胞黏附作用的认识,为单细胞尺度下生物力学探测提供了新的可能.     

细菌显微追踪技术在生物被膜中的应用

细菌生物被膜是粘附于物体表面的由细菌细胞及其胞外物质组成的复杂膜样物聚集体,具有很强的耐药性和免疫逃逸能力。生物被膜内细菌的代谢活性、运动状态等与浮游细菌有明显区别。近年来,先进的显微成像技术结合新型图像处理方法,在研究细菌的运动、生理等方面发挥了重要作用。本文围绕生物被膜,概述了细菌显微追踪技术在其研究中的应用。主要从细菌的运动方式和生物被膜形成过程的调控两方面出发,介绍了在单细胞水平上利用该技术研究生物被膜的进展,包括细菌的游泳、蹭行、群集运动和多种信号通路调控下生物被膜的形成过程等,并展望了该技术在生物被膜其他相关研究领域的应用前景。     

Zernike phase contrast cryo-electron tomography of whole mounted frozen cells

Cryo-electron tomography of frozen hydrated cells has provided cell biologists with an indispensable tool for delineating three-dimensional arrangements of cellular ultrastructure. To avoid the damage induced by electron irradiation, images of frozen hydrated biological specimens are generally acquired under low-dose conditions, resulting in weakly contrasted images that are difficult to interpret, and in which ultrastructural details remain ambiguous. Zernike phase contrast transmission electron microscopy can improve contrast, and can also fix a fatal problem related to the inherent low contrast of conventional electron microscopy, namely, image modulation due to the unavoidable setting of deep defocus. In this study, we applied cryo-electron tomography enhanced with a Zernike phase plate, which avoids image modulation by allowing in-focus setting. The Zernike phase contrast cryo-electron tomography has a potential to suppress grainy background generation. Due to the smoother background in comparison with defocus phase contrast cryo-electron tomography, Zernike phase contrast cryo-electron tomography could yield higher visibility for particulate or filamentous ultrastructure inside the cells, and allowed us to clearly recognize membrane protein structures.     

Combined use of hard X-ray phase contrast imaging and X-ray fluorescence microscopy for sub-cellular metal quantification

Hard X-ray fluorescence microscopy and magnified phase contrast imaging are combined to obtain quantitative maps of the projected metal concentration in whole cells. The experiments were performed on freeze dried cells at the nano-imaging station ID22NI of the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF). X-ray fluorescence analysis gives the areal mass of most major, minor and trace elements; it is validated using a biological standard of known composition. Quantitative phase contrast imaging provides maps of the projected mass and is validated using calibration samples and through comparison with Atomic Force Microscopy and Scanning Transmission Ion Microscopy. Up to now, absolute quantification at the sub-cellular level was impossible using X-ray fluorescence microscopy but can be reached with the use of the proposed approach.     

Development of phase plates for electron microscopes and their biological application

After slow progress in the efforts to develop phase plates for electron microscopes, functional phase plates with thin carbon films have recently been reported. An electron microscope enhanced with thin-film phase plates has practical advantages. It permits collecting high-contrast images of intact biological specimens without harsh and lengthy sample preparation, such as fixation, dehydration, resin-embedding, staining and thin-sectioning. This report reviews the state of the art for phase plates in biological electron microscopy and focuses upon the conditions required for functional thin-film phase plates. The current disadvantages of thin-film phase plates are also addressed and potential solutions are proposed.     

Cell and nucleus refractive‐index mapping by interferometric phase microscopy and rapid confocal fluorescence microscopy

We present a multimodal technique for measuring the integral refractive index and the thickness of biological cells and their organelles by integrating interferometric phase microscopy (IPM) and rapid confocal fluorescence microscopy. First, the actual thickness maps of the cellular compartments are reconstructed using the confocal fluorescent sections, and then the optical path difference (OPD) map of the same cell is reconstructed using IPM. Based on the co‐registered data, the integral refractive index maps of the cell and its organelles are calculated. This technique enables rapidly measuring refractive index of live, dynamic cells, where IPM provides quantitative imaging capabilities and confocal fluorescence microscopy provides molecular specificity of the cell organelles. We acquire human colorectal adenocarcinoma cells and show that the integral refractive index values are similar for the whole cell, the cytoplasm and the nucleus on the population level, but significantly different on the single cell level.     

Ultrastructure of the meningococcus in logarithmic and stationary development phases

The complex study of Neisseria meningitidis cultures A-208 in the time course of their development has disclosed that broth cultures in the logarithmic and stationary phases of their development are most valid on account of all their biological properties (the specific character of the reaction of agglutination, viability, the morphology of colonies and cells in light and electron microscopy). The use of scanning electron microscopy has made it possible to reveal bubbly endotoxin excretion in N. meningitidis and funnel-shaped depressions on their surface corresponding, probably, to nucleoid epicenters . In ultrathin sections some previously unknown features of the ultrastructure of N. meningitidis in the logarithmic and stationary phase of their development have been detected: (a) the morphological heterogeneity of N. meningitidis represented by cells of the "light" (L) and "dark" (D) types; (b) the surface structures of meningococcal cells from the cultures in the stationary phase of development show the tendency to smoothing out, which is accompanied by their sharper differentiation.     

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

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.     

High-resolution single-shot phase-shifting interference microscopy using deep neural network for quantitative phase imaging of biological samples

White light phase-shifting interference microscopy (WL-PSIM) is a prominent technique for high-resolution quantitative phase imaging (QPI) of industrial and biological specimens. However, multiple interferograms with accurate phase-shifts are essentially required in WL-PSIM for measuring the accurate phase of the object. Here, we present single-shot phase-shifting interferometric techniques for accurate phase measurement using filtered white light (520±36 nm) phase-shifting interference microscopy (F-WL-PSIM) and deep neural network (DNN). The methods are incorporated by training the DNN to generate (a) four phase-shifted frames and (b) direct phase from a single interferogram. The training of network is performed on two different samples i.e., optical waveguide and MG63 osteosarcoma cells. Further, performance of F-WL-PSIM+DNN framework is validated by comparing the phase map extracted from network generated and experimentally recorded interferograms. The current approach can further strengthen QPI techniques for high-resolution phase recovery using a single frame for different biomedical applications.     

Interference Microscopy in Cell Biophysics. 1. Principles and Methodological Aspects of Coherent Phase Microscopy

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.     

Phase-plate electron microscopy: a novel imaging tool to reveal close-to-life nano-structures

After slow progress in the efforts to develop phase plates for electron microscopes, functional phase plate using thin carbon film has been reported recently. It permits collecting high-contrast images of close-to-life biological structures with cryo-fixation and without staining. This report reviews the state of the art for phase plates and what is innovated with them in biological electron microscopy. The extension of thin-film phase plates to the material-less type using electrostatic field or magnetic field is also addressed.