Zhang Yu Shrike, Chang Jae-Byum, Alvarez Mario Moisés, Trujillo-de Santiago Grissel, Aleman Julio, Batzaya Byambaa, Krishnadoss Vaishali, Ramanujam Aishwarya Aravamudhan, Kazemzadeh-Narbat Mehdi, Chen Fei, Tillberg Paul W, Dokmeci Mehmet Remzi, Boyden Edward S, Khademhosseini Ali
Biomaterials Innovation Research Center, Division of Biomedical Engineering, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston 02139, MA, USA.
Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology, Cambridge 02139, MA, USA.
Sci Rep. 2016 Mar 15;6:22691. doi: 10.1038/srep22691.
To date, much effort has been expended on making high-performance microscopes through better instrumentation. Recently, it was discovered that physical magnification of specimens was possible, through a technique called expansion microscopy (ExM), raising the question of whether physical magnification, coupled to inexpensive optics, could together match the performance of high-end optical equipment, at a tiny fraction of the price. Here we show that such "hybrid microscopy" methods--combining physical and optical magnifications--can indeed achieve high performance at low cost. By physically magnifying objects, then imaging them on cheap miniature fluorescence microscopes ("mini-microscopes"), it is possible to image at a resolution comparable to that previously attainable only with benchtop microscopes that present costs orders of magnitude higher. We believe that this unprecedented hybrid technology that combines expansion microscopy, based on physical magnification, and mini-microscopy, relying on conventional optics--a process we refer to as Expansion Mini-Microscopy (ExMM)--is a highly promising alternative method for performing cost-effective, high-resolution imaging of biological samples. With further advancement of the technology, we believe that ExMM will find widespread applications for high-resolution imaging particularly in research and healthcare scenarios in undeveloped countries or remote places.
迄今为止，人们在通过改进仪器制造高性能显微镜方面付出了巨大努力。最近，人们发现通过一种称为扩展显微镜（ExM）的技术可以对样本进行物理放大，这就引发了一个问题：物理放大与廉价光学器件相结合，能否以极低的成本达到高端光学设备的性能。在这里，我们展示了这种“混合显微镜”方法——将物理放大和光学放大相结合——确实可以低成本实现高性能。通过对物体进行物理放大，然后在廉价的微型荧光显微镜（“迷你显微镜”）上成像，可以实现与以前只有成本高出几个数量级的台式显微镜才能达到的分辨率相当的成像。我们相信，这种前所未有的混合技术，将基于物理放大的扩展显微镜和依赖传统光学的迷你显微镜相结合——我们将这个过程称为扩展迷你显微镜（ExMM）——是一种极具前景的替代方法，可用于对生物样本进行经济高效的高分辨率成像。随着该技术的进一步发展，我们相信ExMM将在高分辨率成像中得到广泛应用，特别是在不发达国家或偏远地区的研究和医疗场景中。
