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Related Concept Videos

Overview of Electron Microscopy01:25

Overview of Electron Microscopy

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The wavelengths of visible light ultimately limit the maximum theoretical resolution of images created by light microscopes. Most light microscopes can only magnify 1000X, and a few can magnify up to 1500X. Electrons, like electromagnetic radiation, can behave like waves, but with wavelengths of 0.005 nm, they produce significantly greater resolution up to 0.05 nm as compared to 500 nm for visible light. An electron microscope (EM) can create a sharp image that is magnified up to 2,000,000X.
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In 1931, physicist Ernst Ruska—building on the idea that magnetic fields can direct an electron beam just as lenses can direct a beam of light in an optical microscope—developed the first prototype of the electron microscope. This development led to the development of the field of electron microscopy. In the transmission electron microscope (TEM), electrons are produced by a hot tungsten element and accelerated by a potential difference in an electron gun, which gives them up to 400...
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The early pioneers of microscopy opened a window into the invisible world of microorganisms. In 1830, Joseph Jackson Lister created an essentially modern light microscope. The 20th century saw the development of microscopes that leveraged nonvisible light, such as fluorescence microscopy that uses an ultraviolet light source and electron microscopy that uses short-wavelength electron beams. These advances significantly improved magnification, image resolution, and contrast. By comparison, the...
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Electron Microscope Tomography and Single-particle Reconstruction01:07

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Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) can be used to determine the 3D structure of biological samples with the help of techniques such as electron microscope tomography and single-particle reconstruction. While single-particle reconstruction can examine macromolecules and macromolecular complexes in vitro conditions only, tomography permits the study of cell components or small cells in vivo.
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Conventional electron microscopy (EM) involves dehydration, fixation, and staining of biological samples, which distorts the native state of biological molecules and results in several artifacts. Also, the high-energy electron beam damages the sample and makes it difficult to obtain high-resolution images. These issues can be addressed using cryo-EM, which uses frozen samples and gentler electron beams. The technique was developed by Jacques Dubochet, Joachim Frank, and Richard Henderson, for...
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Super-resolution fluorescence microscopy (SRFM) provides a better resolution than conventional fluorescence microscopy by reducing the point spread function (PSF). PSF is the light intensity distribution from a point that causes it to appear blurred. Due to PSF, each fluorescing point appears bigger than its actual size, and it is the PSF interference of nearby fluorophores that causes the blurred image. Various approaches to achieving higher resolution through SRFM have recently been...
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Multimodal Hierarchical Imaging of Serial Sections for Finding Specific Cellular Targets within Large Volumes
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Electron Microscopy at Scale.

Linnaea Ostroff1, Hongkui Zeng1

  • 1Allen Institute for Brain Science, Seattle, WA 98103, USA.

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|August 2, 2015
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Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Understanding brain synaptic connections is key. New electron microscopy methods reveal specific neural connections that simple proximity doesn't predict, advancing neuroscience research.

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Area of Science:

  • Neuroscience
  • Cellular Biology
  • Computational Biology

Background:

  • Cellular interactions at the synaptic level in the brain remain largely uncharacterized.
  • Predicting synaptic specificity based on axonal-dendritic proximity has limitations.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To develop and apply novel experimental and computational technologies for large-scale electron microscopy data analysis.
  • To uncover synaptic connectional specificity in the brain.

Main Methods:

  • Large-scale electron microscopy data collection and processing.
  • Saturated reconstruction of neural circuits.
  • Advanced computational analysis of neural connectomics.

Main Results:

  • Development of new technologies for high-throughput electron microscopy data acquisition and analysis.
  • Uncovering of synaptic connectional specificity.
  • Demonstration that synaptic specificity is not solely determined by axonal-dendritic proximity.

Conclusions:

  • Novel technological advancements enable unprecedented insights into neural connectivity.
  • Synaptic specificity is a complex feature influenced by factors beyond simple physical proximity.
  • This work provides a foundation for future large-scale connectomics studies.