Keeping Cells Alive in Microscopy

Light microscopy has emerged as one of the fundamental methods to analyze biological systems; novel techniques of 3D microscopy and super-resolution microscopy (SRM) with an optical resolution down to the sub-nanometer range have recently been realized. However, most of these achievements have been made with fixed specimens, i.e. direct information about the dynamics of the biosystem studied was not possible. This stimulated the development of live cell microscopy imaging approaches including Low Illumination Fluorescence Microscopy, Light Sheet Microscopy (LSM), or Structured Illumination Microscopy (SIM). Here we discuss perspectives, methods and relevant light doses of advanced fluorescence microscopy imaging to keep the cells alive at low levels of phototoxicity.