Concomitant use of polarization and negative phase contrast microscopy for the study of microorganisms

Folia Microbiologica
Z Zizka

Abstract

A simultaneous application of negative phase contrast and polarization microscopy was used to study the internal structure of microbial cells. Negative phase contrast allowed us to display the fine cell structures with a refractive index of light approaching that of the environment, e.g., the cytoplasm, and converted an invisible phase image to a visible amplitude one. In the polarizing microscope, cross-polarizing filters, together with first-order quartz compensator and a turntable, showed maximum birefringence of individual structures. Material containing algae was collected in ponds in the villages Sýkořice and Zbečno (Protected Landscape Area Křivoklátsko). Objects were studied in a laboratory microscope (Carl Zeiss Jena, type NfpK), equipped with a basic body In Ph 160 with an exchangeable module Ph, LOMO St. Petersburg turntable mounted on a centering holder of our own construction and a Nikon D 70 digital SLR camera. Anisotropic granules were found only in the members of two orders of algae (Euglenales, Euglenophyceae and Chlorococcales, Chlorophyceae). They always showed strong birefringence and differed in both number and size. An important finding concerned thin pellicles in genus Euglena (Euglenales, Euglenophyceae)...Continue Reading

References

Sep 21, 2011·The Journal of Cell Biology·Shinya Inoué
May 12, 2016·Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·Luke C M MackinderMartin C Jonikas

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Methods Mentioned

BETA
electron microscopy
light microscopy
polarization microscopy

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