What is the difference between fluorescence-based and laser-based confocal microscopy?
The principle is different
1. Fluorescence microscope: It uses ultraviolet light as a light source to irradiate the object being inspected, causing it to emit fluorescence, and then observes the shape and position of the object under the microscope.
2. Laser confocal microscope: a laser scanning device is installed on the basis of fluorescence microscopy imaging, using ultraviolet or visible light to excite fluorescent probes.
Different characteristics
1. Fluorescence microscope: used to study the absorption, transportation, distribution, and localization of substances within cells. Some substances in cells, such as chlorophyll, can fluoresce when exposed to ultraviolet radiation; Some substances themselves cannot emit fluorescence, but they can also emit fluorescence if stained with fluorescent dyes or fluorescent antibodies and irradiated with ultraviolet light.
2. Laser confocal microscope: using computer image processing to obtain fluorescent images of the internal microstructure of cells or tissues, as well as observing physiological signals such as Ca2+, pH value, membrane potential, and changes in cell morphology at the subcellular level.
Different uses
1. Fluorescence microscope: Fluorescence microscope is a fundamental tool for immunofluorescence cell chemistry. It is composed of main components such as light source, filter plate system, and optical system. It is the use of light of a certain wavelength to excite the specimen to emit fluorescence, which is then magnified through an objective lens and eyepiece system to observe the fluorescence image of the specimen.
2. Laser confocal microscopy: Laser scanning confocal microscopy technology has been used for research on cell morphology localization, three-dimensional structure recombination, dynamic change processes, and provides practical research methods such as quantitative fluorescence measurement and quantitative image analysis. Combined with other related biotechnologies, it has been widely applied in molecular cell biology fields such as morphology, physiology, immunology, and genetics.
