Controlled Light Exposure For Confocal Microsope

A new component for the Nikon Instruments, Inc. C1 Confocal Microscope system allows Controlled Light Exposure Microscopy (CLEM). The control unit uses electronics to reduce specimen photo bleaching and photo toxicity while expanding the unit’s signal dynamic range. High sensitivity and resolution are critical elements for successful live cell imaging. The CLEM control unit uses two laser confocal imaging methods to optimize the laser excitation and detector sensitivity range, providing less photo bleaching effects and saturation of the detector signals. When the unit senses the lack of a fluorescence return signal it attenuates the illumination, reducing the unnecessary excitation of fluorophores in the background and out of the plane of focus objects. A second method senses optimum return signal levels and can then attenuate the excitation source, reducing the deleterious over-excitation of fluorophores in bright areas or out of the plane of focus objects.