Imaging cells and sub-cellular structures with ultrahigh resolution full-field X-ray microscopy
Date
2013
Authors
Chien, C.C.
Tseng, P.
Chen, H.
Hua, T.
Chen, S.T.
Chen, Y.
Leng, W.H.
Wang, C.
Hwu, Y.
Yin, G.
Editors
Advisors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Type:
Journal article
Citation
Biotechnology Advances, 2013; 31(3):375-386
Statement of Responsibility
Conference Name
Abstract
Our experimental results demonstrate that full-field hard-X-ray microscopy is finally able to investigate the internal structure of cells in tissues. This result was made possible by three main factors: the use of a coherent (synchrotron) source of X-rays, the exploitation of contrast mechanisms based on the real part of the refractive index and the magnification provided by high-resolution Fresnel zone-plate objectives. We specifically obtained high-quality microradiographs of human and mouse cells with 29 nm Rayleigh spatial resolution and verified that tomographic reconstruction could be implemented with a final resolution level suitable for subcellular features. We also demonstrated that a phase retrieval method based on a wave propagation algorithm could yield good subcellular images starting from a series of defocused microradiographs. The concluding discussion compares cellular and subcellular hard-X-ray microradiology with other techniques and evaluates its potential impact on biomedical research.