High-resolution line-scan Brillouin microscopy for live imaging of mechanical properties during embryo development
Carlo Bevilacqua, Juan Manuel Gomez, Ulla-Maj Fiúza, Chii Jou Chan, Ling Wang, Sebastian Hambura, Manuel Eguren, Jan Ellenberg, Alba Diz-Muñoz, Maria Leptin, Robert Prevedel
Abstract
Brillouin microscopy can assess mechanical properties of biological samples in a three-dimensional (3D), all-optical and hence non-contact fashion, but its weak signals often lead to long imaging times and require an illumination dosage harmful for living organisms. Here, we present a high-resolution line-scanning Brillouin microscope for multiplexed and hence fast 3D imaging of dynamic biological processes with low phototoxicity. The improved background suppression and resolution, in combination with fluorescence light-sheet imaging, enables the visualization of the mechanical properties of cells and tissues over space and time in living organism models such as fruit flies, ascidians and mouse embryos.