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How does light-sheet fluorescence microscopy reduce photodamage in living specimens?
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Colour-enhanced scanning electron micrograph (magnified 50×) of a bean aphid on a leaf.
Light-sheet fluorescence microscopy (LSFM), also known as selective plane illumination microscopy (SPIM), reduces photodamage in living specimens by limiting illumination to only the specific plane of the sample being imaged.1
By restricting the light exposure to this focused plane, the technique enables optical sectioning in the axial direction without subjecting the entire specimen to unnecessary light, which minimizes phototoxicity and photobleaching. This approach is particularly effective for the time-lapse imaging of sensitive biological samples, such as live cells and whole-tissue embryos, allowing researchers to observe dynamic processes at high resolution and depth while maintaining the health of the specimen.21