Related Experiment Video
Updated: Sep 27, 2026

Mesoscopic Fluorescence Tomography for In-vivo Imaging of Developing Drosophila
Published on: August 20, 2009
Exploring the dynamic background of the developmental processes and cell reactions with the use of an ultraweak
1Faculty of Biology, Moscow State University, Moscow 119899, Russia. lbelous@soil.msu.ru
Abstract:
Any reactions of the living systems are to a great extent context-dependent. Meanwhile, the biological essence of a "context" remains to be obscure. We suggest that it may be based upon an ensemble of molecular-supramolecular oscillators, which have different characteristic times. For testing this hypothesis, we applied the Fourier statistics to the time series of the records of an ultraweak photon emission (UWPE) registered from fish eggs and embryos and from cell cultures. We detected the regular changes of the UWPE Fourier spectra (FS) during embryonic development and physiological reactions of cell cultures. In many cases, such changes were going on in a holistic manner, i.e. involving broad spectral areas rather than single frequency maxims. FS of the earlier developmental stages showed greater instability and the presence of a short-range order only. On the contrary, at the advanced developmental stages a long-range order has emerged within the spectra. Another distinction of the highly organized biological samples (developing embryos, confluent fibroblasts cultures) from non-biological controls and "poorly organized" samples (non-fertilized eggs, non-confluent, poorly spread cell cultures) was the UWPE correlation dynamics which was more cooperative in highly organized samples. A non-invasive technique of UWPE registration may be useful for exploring a fluctuated oscillatory background of the developmental and physiological states of biological samples.
Related Concept Videos
Protein Dynamics in Living Cells
Fluorescent recovery after photobleaching (FRAP) is a fluorescent-protein-based detection technique used to quantify protein movement rates within the cell. This method exposes a small portion of the cell to an intense laser beam. The laser beam causes permanent photobleaching of the fluorophore-tagged proteins in the exposed region. As the bleached...
Transmission Electron Microscopy
Super-resolution Fluorescence Microscopy

