An optical pressure chamber designed for high numerical aperture studies on adherent living cells

We have developed an optical pressure chamber designed for use with high numerical aperture oil immersion microscope objectives at working pressures up to 1,000 psi (67 atm abs). The chamber is optimized for studies of living, adherent, cultured mammalian cells using high resolution epifluorescence and phase contrast microscopy, and biophysical techniques such as fluorescence redistribution after photobleaching and optical trapping. The primary optical window assembly of the chamber can be removed and placed into a standard 35-mm tissue culture dish, allowing for culture, microinjection, and micromanipulation of adherent cells before they are loaded into the chamber. The chamber is designed to fit into a commercially available stage heater for temperature control, and we used a computer-controlled high pressure liquid chromatography pump for pressure control. A graphic software interface allows the user to program "dive" profiles and to link temperature and pressure data with digital image files of specimens under study. A minor modification of the present design will allow perfusion at high pressure.