Dual-view microscopy with a single camera: real-time imaging of molecular orientations and calcium

A new microscope technique, termed "W" (double view video) microscopy, enables simultaneous observation of two different images of an object through a single video camera or by eye. The image pair may, for example, be transmission and fluorescence, fluorescence at different wavelengths, or mutually perpendicular components of polarized fluorescence. Any video microscope can be converted into a dual imager by simple insertion of a small optical device. The continuous appearance of the dual image assures the best time resolution in existing and future video microscopes. As an application, orientations of actin protomers in individual, moving actin filaments have been imaged at the video rate. Asymmetric calcium influxes into a cell exposed to an intense electric pulse have also been visualized.