Cheng Sharey, Zhao Yongxin
Department of Biological Sciences, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
Discoveries (Craiova). 2019 Sep 30;7(3):e98. doi: 10.15190/d.2019.11.
Expansion microscopy (ExM) is an emerging super-resolution imaging technology. ExM works by infusing a biological specimen with a superabsorbent hydrogel, followed by mechanical homogenization and isotropical expansion of the specimen in water. The unique and cost-effective process of ExM enables super-resolution optical imaging of sample of interest without the need to invest and use of a sophisticated microscope instrument. Here, we demonstrate that a nearly 3-fold isotropic physical expansion of E.coli fixed cells can be achieved in PBS, and the cell morphology during binary fission is clearly resolved in the expanded state, using a diffraction-limited microscope.
扩展显微镜（ExM）是一种新兴的超分辨率成像技术。ExM的工作原理是将生物样本注入高吸水性水凝胶中，然后进行机械匀浆，并使样本在水中进行各向同性膨胀。ExM独特且经济高效的过程能够对感兴趣的样本进行超分辨率光学成像，而无需投资和使用复杂的显微镜仪器。在此，我们证明，使用衍射极限显微镜，在磷酸盐缓冲盐溶液（PBS）中可实现大肠杆菌固定细胞近3倍的各向同性物理膨胀，并且在膨胀状态下能清晰分辨出二分裂过程中的细胞形态。
