Week 2 Flashcards
What is the correlation between the length of the wavelength and the energy of an individual photon?
The lower the wavelength, the higher the energy of an individual photon
What is the Jablonski Diagram?
- Shows energy states of a hypothetical molecule
- If photon of light absorbed, energy state of electron raised
How quick is phosphorescence in comparrison to fluorescence? What is it?
- Energy from the sunlight can charge and then emit light later
- Very slow manner 10^-1, 10^-2s
What is the speed of fluorescence emission upon excitation?
- Very quick (nearly instant)
- <10^-6 usually of the order of 10^-9
What are the two peaks when looking at a graph detailing intensity (Y) and wavelength (X)
- Area of excitation
- Area of emission
What are 4 different terms for molecules that exhibit fluorescence?
- Fluorochromes
- Fluorophores
- Fluorescent probes
- Colloquially flours
How many features of fluorescence are there?
3
What is the first feature of fluorescence?
Emitted light always has less energy than the absorbed loght (some energy is lost in the process)
What is Stoke’s Law?
Emitted light is of a longer wavelength, the shift in wavelength is known as Stoke’s shift
In what direction along the spectrum does emitted light always move from excited light?
Shifts to the right
What is the second feature of fluorescence?
The emission spectrum is characteristic of that substance
Is the plot for each fluorochrome the same?
NO
Absorbtion (excitation) and emission (fluorescence) spectra can be plotted for each fluorochrome
Where is fluorescein’s peak excitation and what does this mean?
Light at 480 is the most effective to cause an excitation
What is the third feature of fluorescence?
- The whole process is inefficient
- A lot of energy has to be used in order to see detectable fluorescence
What is the Energy yield of fluorescence?
- 0.1-1%
- Light source causing the excitation has to be 100-1000 times bigger in order to produce a visual yield
What are two different methods to establish a fluorescent specimen?
- Primary fluorescence
- Secondary fluorescence
What is primary fluorescence and what does it mean when using it?
- An untreated specimen that is naturally fluorescent
- Autofluorescence
- Can be useful such as certain blood components as do not need to add a dye
- However, must be aware of it if adding other fluorochromes as they may interact
What are secondary fluorescents?
Fluorophores/chromes used
What are 5 essential components of a fluorescent microscope?
- Light source
- Primary filter
- Fluorescing specimen
- Secondary filter
- Objective
What are two essential factors when considering what light source to use in fluorescent imaging?
- The light source has to emit photons with the right energy (lots of photons in the area of peak excitation)
-Light has to have high intensity due to low yield of fluorescence
What light is normally used in fluorescent imaging?
Broad band white light that is then filtered
What is a short-pass filter?
- Allow light at shorter wavelengths to pass through while blocking longer ones
- The labels added (e.g. SP440) means that after this wavelength light will no longer pass through- it is a maximum
What is a long pass filter?
- Filter that transmits light with wavelengths longer than a specific cut-off value while blocking shorter wavelengths
- The labels added (e.g. LP40) means that nothing below this wavelength can pass through- it is a minumim
What is a band pass filter?
- A combination of a short pass filter and a long pass filter
- Is critical for selecting specific emission wavelengths
- Contains a second number (e.g. BP405/14). This tells us how wide the filter is, the smaller the width, the more specific the filter as we reduce the light going through the gap
How can the two intensities from one fluorochrome be controlled in order for visability?
- Can add long pass and short pass filters to the excitation wave and a much larger long pass alone to the emission wave
- Means the excitation peak is contained and the emission light is free to pass through to visability
Is it possible to use two fluorochromes in one instance?
- Yes, filters can be chosen so that two fluors can be seperated
- Have to make sure that the fluorescence of the two excitation wavelengths are far enough away that the emission does not overlapp
What is the difference between a transmitted light fluorescence microscope and a incident light fluorescence microscope (epifluorescence)?
- TLF contains a second filter in its objective
- ILF contains a chromatic beam splitter
How does a chromatic beam splitter work?
- It situated in-between the excitation and emission wavelengths
- Set up the system with the primary filter primed for the maximum excitation
- Chromatic beam splitter will be primed to let a maximum amount of light into the objective condensor whilst reflecting bright light back towards the light source
- This allows excitation whilst only allowing yellow light to pass through
What is a benefit of a chromatic beam splitter over a second filter?
The same pathway for the incoming and emitted light means a larger area for the sample
What are 3 important aspects of fluorescent objectives?
- Objective should have high numerical aperture
- Immersion objectives important
- The fewer the lenses the better (apochromatic lens helps with broadband light but here we only have a single wavelength and no fringe, having multiple lenses would make the light less intense)
What are 2 important applications of fluorescence microscopy?
- Study of structural and function of living systems at the cellular level
- Relationship and movement of cellular components and cells within tissues
What are 4 issues with fluorescence microscopy?
- Obtaining a specific marker (the dye istelf has a size as it is a protein, so would this change how the system behaves)
- Visualising the marker deep in tissues
- Maintaining the fluorescence (We use up the fluorescence every time it is read out so do not want to bleach or use it up before applying it to our sample)
- Making sure specimen is not damaged and normal behaviour occurs
What are 3 developments that are underpinned by advances in fluorescence miscroscopy?
- Fluorescent probe chemistry
- Molecular biology
- Lasers (high intensity at a speciic wavelength) and fast computers
What are 5 practical issues with fluorecence microscopy?
- Autofluorescence
- SPectral cross-talk
- Photobleaching
- Blur
- Quenching
What is quenching in fluorescence microscopy?
Other molecules in the area that have chemical bonds increase the distance between the two energy states meaning it will change the colour of the photon
What is an example of a fluorescent DNA dye?
- Hoescht33258
- Taken up by live cells
- Allows myotubes to be identified
What is immunofluorescence?
Coupling a fluorochrome to an antibody to study an antigen
Having a specific epitope means we will only have fluorescence in the specifiic area