Advances in fluorescence microscopy can reveal important new aspects of tissue regeneration

Abstract

Advances in fluorescence microscopy can greatly facilitate research in regenerative health. Specifically, live cell imaging is a powerful tool to understand the underlying mechanisms of tissue regeneration, which is characterised by a dynamic interplay at cellular and molecular level. Recent advances in microscopy have aimed to overcome some of the most challenging limitations, such as slow acquisition speed, the resolution limit of light, low signal to noise ratio in thick samples, as well as photobleaching and phototoxicity. In applications such as lightsheet fluorescence microscopy and intra-vital multi-photon microscopy, improved deep tissue imaging have been achieved, and super-resolution technologies have shown to improve optical resolution far beyond the diffraction limit of light for better visualisation at the cellular and molecular level. By combining certain techniques, researchers can now image live samples at much higher resolution for a prolonged time. Advances in analytical technologies will enable researchers to gain an even better understanding of the processes involved to ultimately translate stem cell research into therapeutic interventions.