Immunohistochemical microscopy

Confocal microscope

Confocal microscopy offers several advantages over conventional optical microscopy, including controllable depth of field, the elimination of image degrading out-of-focus information, and the ability to collect serial optical sections from thick specimens. The key to the confocal approach is the use of spatial filtering to eliminate out-of-focus light or flare in specimens that are thicker than the plane of focus. There has been a tremendous explosion in the popularity of confocal microscopy in recent years, due in part to the relative ease with which extremely high-quality images can be obtained from specimens prepared for conventional optical microscopy, and in its great number of applications in many areas of current research interest.

Fluorescent microscope

Immunofluorescence can be used on tissue sections, cultured cells or individual cells that are fixed by a variety of methods. Antibodies can be used in this method to analyze the distribution of proteins, glycoproteins and other antigen targets including small biological and non-biological molecules.