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Multicolor super-resolution microscopy image showing cellular structures within fixed cells.
Article

Expanding What Super-Resolution Microscopy Can Capture

How fluorescence lifetime-based STED increases the quality of super-resolution images

Brought to you byLeica Microsystems

Super-resolution methods differ in the spatial and temporal detail they can capture, as well as the demands they place on the sample. Some require high light doses to reach finer resolution, while others construct a final image from multiple acquisitions. These conditions can affect imaging speed, specimen integrity, and the ability to follow live or light-sensitive samples over time. 

Stimulated emission depletion (STED) produces super-resolved detail, but conventional implementations have typically required higher depletion laser powers as researchers push for higher resolution. This report examines a fluorescence lifetime-based approach that uses information from emitted photons to improve resolution without increasing the STED depletion laser power. It considers how this changes the balance between nanoscale detail and sample exposure in live-cell and multicolor STED imaging.

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  • How depletion laser power and multi-frame acquisition can constrain super-resolution imaging
  • A fluorescence lifetime-based approach to improving STED resolution at lower depletion laser power conditions
  • Live-cell and multicolor STED experiments conducted under lower-light conditions

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