Abstract:We here report for the first time the synergistic implementation of structured illumination microscopy (SIM) and multifocus microscopy (MFM). This imaging modality is designed to alleviate the problem of insufficient volumetric acquisition speed in superresolution biological imaging. SIM is a wide-field super-resolution technique that allows imaging with visible light beyond the classical diffraction limit. Employing multifocus diffractive optics we obtain simultaneous wide-field 3D imaging capability in the SIM acquisition sequence, improving volumetric acquisition speed by an order of magnitude. Imaging performance is demonstrated on biological specimens.

Advancement in fluorescence imaging with the invention of several super-resolution microscopy modalities (e.g., PALM/STORM and STED) has opened up the possibility of deciphering molecular distributions on the nanoscale. In our quest to better elucidate postsynaptic protein distribution in dendritic spines, we have applied these nanoscopy methods, where generated results could help improve our understanding of neuronal functions. In particular, we have investigated the principal energy transformer in the brain, i.e., the [Formula: see text]-ATPase (or sodium pump), an essential protein responsible for maintaining resting membrane potential and a major controller of intracellular ion homeostasis. In these investigations, we have focused on estimates of protein amount, giving assessments of how variations may depend on labeling strategies, sample analysis, and choice of nanoscopic imaging method, concluding that all can be critical factors for quantification. We present a comparison of these results and discuss the influences this may have for homeostatic sodium regulation in neurons and energy consumption.

SummarySMLocalizer combines the availability of ImageJ with the power of GPU processing for fast and accurate analysis of single molecule localization microscopy data. Analysis of 2D and 3D data in multiple channels is supported.Availability and implementationPlugin freely available for Fiji and ImageJ2.0 through https://sourceforge.net/projects/smlocalizer/. Plugin also available for continuous updates through ImageJ update system, add http://sites.imagej.net/Cellular-Biophysics-KTH/ as update site in ImageJ. Java and CUDA source code freely available on the web at https://github.com/KristofferBernhem/SMlocalizer.Supplementary information Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.