4Pi-confocal microscopy provides three-dimensional images of the microtubule network with 100- to 150-nm resolution
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Updated: Oct 26, 2026

Imaging Intermediate Filaments and Microtubules with 2-dimensional Direct Stochastic Optical Reconstruction Microscopy
Published on: March 6, 2018
1High Resolution Optical Microscopy Group, Max-Planck-Institute for Biophysical Chemistry, Göttingen, D-37070, Germany.
Abstract:
We show the applicability of 4Pi-confocal microscopy to three-dimensional imaging of the microtubule network in a fixed mouse fibroblast cell. Comparison with two-photon confocal resolution reveals a fourfold better axial resolution in the 4Pi-confocal case. By combining 4Pi-confocal microscopy with Richardson-Lucy image restoration a further resolution increase is achieved. Featuring a three-dimensional resolution in the range 100-150 nm, the 4Pi-confocal (restored) images are intrinsically more detailed than their confocal counterparts. Our images constitute what to our knowledge are the best-resolved three-dimensional images of entangled cellular microtubules obtained with light to date.
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