Neuronal rat cell imaging using a new UV-extended supercontinuum source

Abstract

In this paper we report imaged neuronal rat cells in a confocal laser scanning microscope by simultaneous generation of the three requested wavelengths obtained by a UV-extended supercontinuum source. This is to the best of our knowledge that such a measure was performed using a microstructured fiber pumped by a standard Ti:Sapphire laser. We observed efficient UV light generation when a novel pumping scheme was used. The pump wavelength is close to the zero-dispersion wavelength of the fiber first high-order mode and offset axial pumping is used. By tuning the pump wavelength and power level we were able to generate mW-power levels in the visible wavelength interval down and of about hundreds of microwatt in the UV wavelength interval down to 300 nm. The pump alignment was very simple and very stable. We believe that further optimization of pump wavelength, fiber length and fiber zero-dispersion wavelength could generate light well below 300 nm using a simple and stable set-up. To demonstrate the potentiality of this technique we imaged neuronal rat cells in a confocal laser scanning microscope by simultaneous generation of the three requested wavelengths

Fiber lasers for medical diagnostics and treatments: state of the art, challenges and future perspectives

“…In Ref. 31 and Ref.32 authors report on a source able to provide probe pulses in the UV visible range (300 nm to 700 nm) and on the demonstration of its application to neural rat cell and hyperspectral (fluorescence lifetime) imaging measurements. Mid-infrared continuum sources are also fundamental to address the mid-infrared spectral region that is of great technical and scientific interest because most molecules display fundamental vibrational absorptions in this region, leaving distinctive spectral fingerprints.…”

Hyperspectral (fluorescence lifetime) imaging based on a UV-VIS enhanced supercontinuum source using high-order mode propagation

“…Since alignment and tuning are easy and very stable, this technique is suitable for real-world measurements. In previous works we discussed the performance of this source exploiting propagation on high-order modes and its applications to fluorescence lifetime measurement [12] and to fluorescence imaging of multi-labeled neuronal rat cells in a confocal laser scanning microscope by simultaneous generation of the three requested wavelengths and and neuronal rat cell imaging [14]. In this paper we present the source and results of its application to hyperspectral FRET-FLIM measurements on amyloid oligomers and fibrils grown from the yeast prion Sup35p [15].…”