dc.publisher: eLife Sciences Publications Limited
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dc.rights: © 2017 Boothe et al.. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited.
description: Iodixanol supplementation provides a simple method for tuning the refractive index of live imaging media, which can greatly improve resolution and penetration depth in live imaging experiments.
title: Figures and data in A tunable refractive index matching medium for live imaging cells, tissues and model organisms | eLife
og:description: Iodixanol supplementation provides a simple method for tuning the refractive index of live imaging media, which can greatly improve resolution and penetration depth in live imaging experiments.
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dc:title: Figures and data in A tunable refractive index matching medium for live imaging cells, tissues and model organisms | eLife
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dc.description: Light microscopy is a key tool in biomedical research. For perfect images, light needs to be able to pass through the sample, the material (or ?mounting medium?) that holds the sample in place, and finally the image-detecting equipment in a straight line. However, in practice, light rays often deviate away from this line because they move at different speeds in different materials; how much the speed of light changes is related to a property called the refractive index of the material. This is exactly the effect that causes a stick stuck into water to look bent at the water?s surface. In light microscopy, mismatches in refractive index significantly reduce quality of the images that can be obtained. Live specimens are particularly challenging to image because different specimens have very different refractive indices compared to the mounting medium, which holds specimens in place but must also keep them alive. Although the addition of chemical compounds can theoretically match the refractive index of the mounting medium to that of the specimen, this approach has so far not been practical because such manipulations tend to kill the specimen. An important challenge has therefore been to identify a compound that can adjust, or ?tune?, the refractive index of mounting media over a wide range, yet without harming the specimens. Now, Boothe et al. have identified a chemical called Iodixanol as an ideal and easy to use supplement for tuning the refractive index of water-based live imaging media. Adding Iodixanol to the mounting media did not appear to have any toxic effects on cell cultures, developing zebrafish embryos or regenerating planarian flatworms. Importantly, Boothe et al. found that Iodixanol significantly improved the quality of the images collected from all of these different specimens. It is important to stress that Iodixanol does not change the refractive index of the sample or cancel out refractive index differences within the sample ? so it cannot render opaque specimens transparent. Nevertheless, Iodixanol supplementation is a simple and affordable technique to improve image quality in any live imaging application without having to resort to more expensive and highly specialized microscopes.
og:type: article
og:title: Figures and data in A tunable refractive index matching medium for live imaging cells, tissues and model organisms
dc.date: 2017-07-14
dc.contributor: Tobias Boothe
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dc.title: A tunable refractive index matching medium for live imaging cells, tissues and model organisms
dc.identifier: doi:10.7554/eLife.27240
dc.language: en
og:url: https://elifesciences.org/articles/27240/figures
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