A fluorescence scanning electron microscope

Takaaki Kanemaru, Kazuho Hirata, Shin-ichi Takasu, Shin-ichiro Isobe, Keiji Mizuki, Shuntaro Mataka, Tomoo Hisatomi, Syouji Noutomi and Kei-ichiro Nakamura

Abstract: Devices that enable simultaneous and the same axis observation of histocytochemically labeled ultrastructure by fluorescence probes are desired for more detailed biomedical experiments and understanding of the functional molecular morphology. We have developed a hybrid microscope equipped with both fluorescent optical microscope and scanning electron　microscope. In this article, we will briefly review the trial processes of the FL-SEM development, and show some examples obtained by the instrument. Fluolid, a novel fluorescent substance that is favorable for utilizing in the hybrid microscope, is also mentioned.

Key words: hybrid, scanning electron microscope, fluorescence microscope, organic Electoro-Luminescence fluorophore, correlative microscopy