Observation of immunostained microtubules using three-dimensional super-resolution microscope with two-color annular wave plate

Three-dimensional super-resolution microscopy based on fluorescence depletion (3D-SRM) was applied to the observation of immunostained microtubules having complicated structures stacking each other. Owing to a high depth resolution overcoming the diffraction limit, we can observe the tubulin fibers intertwined in a cell with improved image quality. Since the 3D-SRM system can be setup by adopting a simple two-color annular wave plate (TAWP) to a commercial laser scanning microscope (LSM), 3D-SRM is expected to be a powerful measurement method in life science.