Optical microscopy for biology

This multiauthor volume results from the 1989 International Conference on Video Microscopy held in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. The volume falls into three main parts: (1) recent technical advances in optical sectioning/confocal microscopy, fluorescent probes and their limitations, and image detector characterization; (2) current applications of video microscopy to cell biology; and (3) future directions in optical microscopy for biology and medicine. As underlined by the editors, this is a somewhat arbitrary classification and many of the 44 papers contributing to this volume provide information in two or more of these areas. Unfortunately, the title of this volume is somewhat misleading and doses not reflect the full scope of the material covered. Part one of the volume is entitled 'technical developments for optical microscopy', and opens with an initial group of 8 papers that focus primarily on the principles and practice of confocal microscopy and optical sectioning. There follows a second group of 6 papers which deals with fluorophores and the characterization of probes for fluorescent analogue cytochemistry. The concluding section is devoted to camera characterization and image correction. Part two of the volume focuses on applications of video microscopy which fall into three main investigative areas ion imaging; dynamics of plasma membrane structure; cytoskeleton, intracellular motility, and cell locomotion. Included is a collection of 9 papers, which centre on the cytoskeleton, intracellular motility and cell locomotion. Summarized here are various developments and applications of digitized video microscopy in conjunction with fluorescent probes for following the dynamics of contractile proteins, intermediate filaments, microtubules and membraneous organelles in living cells. The third and last part of the book centres on new directions in optical microscopy. Here, a series of 8 papers summarize some of the new approaches being explored for optical probing of biological activity in cells. Overall, this volume makes interesting reading, bringing together a number of perspectives in one place. A great deal of detailed information is presented and the result is a valuable source book on microscopic approaches being used to observe the structure, physiology and biochemistry of cells at the level of the single intact living cell Each paper, although not the last word on any one topic, offers a starting point for further reading and investigation. For the uninitiated, valuable insight into the complexity of the technology can be gained, together with a realistic appraisal of recent accomplishments and capabilities of these techniques. Inevitably, this book represents a typical product of conference proceedings with both the merits and limitations inherent in such books. The conference was held in 1989, the proceedings published in 1990, and much of the work presented here is undoubtedly now in scientific journals. Nevertheless, this publication has not been, in my view, too severely compromised by the passage of time. The book is, overall, well presented, has a detailed index, and makes a very worthwhile attempt at providing a broad perspective on the transformation of the light microscope into a dynamic instrument for probing biological activity in living cells. As such, the book is a useful addition for both those new and those not so new to this field of technology.