ZEISS Seminars at Neuroscience 2017
Airyscan Microscopy a Promising Tool for High Resolution Live Cell Imaging

Confocal microscopy is a broadly used tool for fluorescent imaging thanks to its good resolution and optical sectioning abilities. However, the best resolution performance requires using smallest possible pinhole diameter, which is seldom possible due to insufficient brightness (low signal-to-noise ratio) of biological specimens. The Airyscan technology was developed to overcome these issues, by combining compound detector array, deconvolution and the pixel-reassignment principles. To quantify the improvement we performed a detailed study by comparing the Airyscan with conventional confocal imaging. We have shown that the Airyscan approach provides resolution as high as confocal at 0.2 Airy Units but with significantly higher signal-to-noise ratio, but without increasing the excitation power and acquisition time, which makes it a great candidate for live-cell imaging.

¹ Kennedy Institute for Rheumatology, Roosevelt Drive, University of Oxford, Oxford OX3 7LF Oxford, United Kingdom
² Wolfson Imaging Centre, Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine, University of Oxford, Headley Way, OX3 9DS Oxford, United Kingdom
³ MRC Human Immunology Unit, Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine, University of Oxford, Headley Way, OX3 9DS Oxford, United Kingdom