Good confocal microscope, good software

February 09, 2015

Florida State University
Biological Science
Graduate Student

Overall

Performance

Ease-of-Optimization

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Company:

Leica Microsystems

Product Name:

TCS SP2 Confocal Microscope

Catalog Number:

TCS-SP2

I wanted to use confocal microscopy to examine brain tissue for different antigens.  The software is cumbersome but useful once you spend some time working with it.  This microscope gives great pictures in little time.

Experimental Design and Results Summary

Application

Confocal microscopy

Starting Material

Brain tissue, fixed

Protocol Overview

Prepare immunohistochemistry as per normal protocol. Use a liquid antifade reagent without DAPI and coverslip. Place slide onto stage and use the machine to adjust the level of the stage. Make sure lasers have time to warm up and use the software to determine the beginning and end points of the scanning.

Tips

DAPI in your antifade reagent can overwhelm the camera and increase background noise.

Results Summary

Once you know how to use the device, you can quickly assess the quality of staining and get nice pictures. The scans come as separate files for each laser used, and you can overlay them in the software program to see if there is any overlap. The background noise of the overlay is dependent on the background noise of the individual scans; one noisy scan will make the overlay noisy in the same way.

Features Summary

Z-stack pictures of the slice, multiple lasers, quick scan time.

Additional Notes

Works very well.

Image Gallery

Summary

The Good

High-quality pictures in little time.

The Bad

Any confocal microscope is expensive to buy, use, and maintain.

The Bottom Line

If you are looking for a dependable confocal, this is a good one to use. If you just want some fluorescent microscopy capability, this is too expensive for what you need.

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