Multicolour Multilevel STED nanoscopy of Actin/Spectrin Organization at Synapses

Sci Rep. 2016 May 25:6:26725. doi: 10.1038/srep26725.

Abstract

Superresolution fluorescence microscopy of multiple fluorophores still requires development. Here we present simultaneous three-colour stimulated emission depletion (STED) nanoscopy relying on a single STED beam at 620 nm. Toggling the STED beam between two or more power levels ("multilevelSTED") optimizes resolution and contrast in all colour channels, which are intrinsically co-aligned and well separated. Three-colour recording is demonstrated by imaging the nanoscale cytoskeletal organization in cultured hippocampal neurons. The down to ~35 nm resolution identified periodic actin/betaII spectrin lattices along dendrites and spines; however, at presynaptic and postsynaptic sites, these patterns were found to be absent. Both our multicolour scheme and the 620 nm STED line should be attractive for routine STED microscopy applications.

MeSH terms

  • Actins / metabolism*
  • Animals
  • Female
  • HeLa Cells
  • Hippocampus / cytology
  • Hippocampus / metabolism*
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Molecular Imaging / methods*
  • Neurons / cytology
  • Neurons / metabolism*
  • Rats
  • Rats, Wistar
  • Spectrin / metabolism*
  • Synapses / metabolism*

Substances

  • Actins
  • Spectrin