Confocal Laser Scanning Microscopy

Abstract

Abstract The development of confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM) has considerably enhanced the study of biological specimens stained by immunofluorescence (IF) which continues to be the preferred method of immunolabelling in a wide range of applications. These include rapid diagnosis of infection, autoantibody screening, and cell surface (FACS) analysis of leukaemic cells, in addition to the applications in the research field where the unique properties of the method are highly valued. The increasing availability of potent alternative fluorochromes having characteristic spectral features (1) enables different structures to be recognized and analysed for co-localization at appropriate excitation/emission wavelengths-a property not available by other methods of immunostaining, e.g. immunoenzyme staining where minor staining may be masked by coincident strong reactivity.