Abstract

Correlative light and electron microscopy (CLEM) is one attractive method of observing biological specimens because it combines the advantages of both light microscopy (LM) and electron microscopy (EM) [1]. In LM, specimens are fully hydrated, and molecular species are distinguished by using probes of different colors. EM provides both high spatial resolution images superior to those obtained with LM and highly detailed structural information of cellular components. The combination of LM and EM gives much more information than either method alone, which helps us to analyze cellular function in more detail. However, it is still difficult to distinguish the molecular species with EM images. Quantum dots (QDs) provide information about the biomolecular species in not only LM but also EM [2]. In this method, cells are treated with immuno-staining using QDs, and the target proteins are distinguished by the size of the QDs in EM.

© 2013 Japan Society of Applied Physics, Optical Society of America