Time stops in cells reveals the fastest secrets of life

Now, in an article published in Light: Science and ApplicationsAlong with the University of Osaka, along with cooperative institutions, unveiled a high -accurately and accurate microscopic microscopic technique that takes a high -resolution and quantitative snapshot at a precisely defined restive point in the dynamic cellular activity. The capture of rapid dynamic cellular events with spatial and quantitative details was a great challenge due to the basic comparison between the accuracy of time and the “photon budget”, that is, the amount of light that can be collected for the image. With limited photons and only loud pictures, the important features in both place and time become lost in noise.

“Instead of chasing speed in filming, we decided to freeze the entire scene,” one of the main authors Kosuke Tsuji explains. “We have developed a special room to freeze samples to combine the advantages of microscopic examination of living cells and cooling. By quickly freezing live cells under the optical microscope, we can notice a frozen snapshot of cellular dynamics in high decisions.”

For example, the team froze the spread of the ionic ionic wave in the live muscle cells. After that, the detailed frozen wave was observed in a complex way in three dimensions using a high -resolution technology that cannot monitor the rapid cell dynamics due to the speed of the slow acquisition of imaging.

“This research began with a bold shift in the perspective: the arrest of dynamic cellular processes during visual imaging rather than the struggle to follow it in the movement. We believe that this will be a strong foundational technique, and provide new visions through biotechnology and medical research.” One of the main authors, Masahito Yamanaka, adds, “Our technique maintains both the spatial and timed features of living cells with immediate freezing, which makes it possible to monitor their cases in detail. While the cells are guaranteed, we can seize the opportunity to make a very accurate amount with a variety of visual microscopic tools.”

The researchers also showed how this technique improves the accuracy of quantitative measurement. By freezing the cells named with fluorescent calcium ion probe, they were able to use exposure times the longest 1,000 times of the operation in live live photography, which greatly increases the accuracy of the measurement.

To capture transit biological events in precisely specific moments, the researcher incorporated an electrically operating coolant injection system. With ultraviolet light stimulating to urge calcium ion waves, this system enabled the freezing of calcium ion waves at a specific time point after the start of the event, with 10 milliliters. This allowed the team to arrest an unprecedented transnational biological operations.

Finally, the team set their attention to combining different photography techniques, which are often difficult to align in time. By freezing samples close to samples, multiple photography methods can now be applied without worrying about temporal incompatibility. In their studies, the team merged the automatic microscope Raman and the super -accurate microscope on the cells that were moved in the same cells. This allowed them to display complex cellular information from a number of perspectives at the exact same time point.

This innovation opens new ways to monitor transnational rapid cellular events, providing researchers a powerful tool for exploring the mechanisms behind dynamic biological processes.