Dear readers,
 
We are studying the process of apoptosis and we want to use a
confocal microscope to visualize the nuclear changes during this
process. To visualize the nucleus I use the probe Syto16 and the 488
nm laser line. The problem I encounter is the fact that all cells in
my dish are going into apoptosis except the cells that I follow. This
may be caused by damage of the laser light and than nothing can be
done about it. However it is also possible that the local temperature
is not optimal. I use a inverted microscope and a 63x oil emersion
lens. We are afraid that this lens is cooling down the cells. We
know that the apoptosis process we induce is sensitive to temperature.
 
Does anybody know of a way to locally measure the temperature (may be
with liquid crystals) ?
 
Greetings,
Gert
 
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Gert van Cappellen, [log in to unmask] Erasmus University,
Endocr.& Reprod., Dr. Molewaterplein 50, 3015 GE Rotterdam, The Netherlands
Fax: +31 10 4366832