Haustein Elke, Schwille Petra
Biophysics Group, BioTec TU Dresden, Tatzberg 47-51, D-01307 Dresden, Germany.
HFSP J. 2007 Sep;1(3):169-80. doi: 10.2976/1.2778852. Epub 2007 Sep 17.
Optical microscopy is among the most powerful tools that the physical sciences have ever provided biology. It is indispensable for basic lab work, as well as for cutting edge research, as the visual monitoring of life processes still belongs to the most compelling evidences for a multitude of biomedical applications. Along with the rapid development of new probes and methods for the analysis of laser induced fluorescence, optical microscopy over past years experienced a vast increase of both new techniques and novel combinations of established methods to study biological processes with unprecedented spatial and temporal precision. On the one hand, major technical advances have significantly improved spatial resolution. On the other hand, life scientists are moving toward three- and even four-dimensional cell biology and biophysics involving time as a crucial coordinate to quantitatively understand living specimen. Monitoring the whole cell or tissue in real time, rather than producing snap-shot-like two-dimensional projections, will enable more physiological and, thus, more clinically relevant experiments, whereas an increase in temporal resolution facilitates monitoring fast nonperiodic processes as well as the quantitative analysis of characteristic dynamics.
光学显微镜是物理科学为生物学提供的最强大工具之一。它对于基础实验室工作以及前沿研究都是不可或缺的，因为对生命过程的视觉监测仍然是众多生物医学应用中最具说服力的证据之一。随着用于分析激光诱导荧光的新探针和方法的迅速发展，在过去几年中，光学显微镜在新技术以及既定方法的新颖组合方面都有了大幅增长，从而以前所未有的空间和时间精度来研究生物过程。一方面，重大的技术进步显著提高了空间分辨率。另一方面，生命科学家正朝着三维甚至四维细胞生物学和生物物理学发展，将时间作为一个关键坐标来定量理解活体标本。实时监测整个细胞或组织，而不是生成类似快照的二维投影，将能够进行更多生理相关、进而更具临床相关性的实验，而时间分辨率的提高则有助于监测快速的非周期性过程以及对特征动力学进行定量分析。
