Comment on "Extended-resolution structured illumination imaging of endocytic and cytoskeletal dynamics"

Li et al (Research Articles, 28 August 2015, aab3500) purport to present solutions to long-standing challenges in live-cell microscopy, reporting relatively fast acquisition times in conjunction with improved image resolution. We question the methods' reliability to visualize specimen features at sub-100-nanometer scales, because the mandatory mathematical processing of the recorded data leads to artifacts that are either difficult or impossible to disentangle from real features. We are also concerned about the chosen approach of subjectively comparing images from different super-resolution methods, as opposed to using quantitative measures.