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- Last Updated on Saturday, 04 May 2013 09:11
Cell division
Routine time-lapse video microscopy allows for cell division and rare cellular events to be observed
HoloMonitor M3
images of a dividing PanC-1 cell with visible chromatin
Capturing the cell cycle
Time-lapse recording of dividing L929 cells
The HoloMonitor M3 and M4 provide quantitative phase microscopy, which allow powerful real time observations and analysis of cell division and proliferation.
The morphological and cytometrical changes during different cell cycle phases are captured using the sequential imaging process provided by the HoloMonitor.
The auto focusing capabilities combined with the non-phototoxic imaging make long-term studies of cell cultures simple and straight forward. In such studies (right), cell division can be analyzed step by step:
How it is done
Without any sample preparation, label-free time-lapse microscopy videos are created and analyzed by the following procedure:
- Place the cell culture on the HoloMonitor stage.
- If necessary, adjust the coarse focus. Fine focusing is automatic.
- Enter the time-lapse duration and the time interval between each image frame.
- Start image acquisition.
- When the captures are complete, use the HoloStudio software to analyze the cell movement and the morphological changes over time.
- The typical rounding up of the cell as it organizes its chromatin (left),
- the elongation of the cell with two separate chromatin bars,
- the separation of the two daughter cells and
- finally the spreading out of the new cells to their flat shape with asymmetrical protrusions can all be traced and analyzed.
Analyzing the cell cycle
Besides creating fascinating time-lapse videos, the robust image segmentation make it possible to create scatter plots and histograms, displaying parameters of choice over time, e.g. cell volume and area. The huge amount of data recorded for each cell and for the whole cell population can be transferred to either Microsoft Excel or OpenOffice by using the HoloStudio data exporter.
A rare hesitating cell division
Usually, cells follow the cell division cycle without reverting back to a previous cell cycle phase. In the left video clip a cell curl up to divide. Surprisingly the cell aborts the cell division process. The cell attempts and fails to divide several times. It is not until after the cell has interacted with its neighbors that it finally manages to divide successfully.
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