Nanoscopy of filamentous actin in cortical dendrites of a living mouse

Katrin I Willig; Heinz Steffens; Carola Gregor; Alexander Herholt; Moritz J Rossner; Stefan W Hell

doi:10.1016/j.bpj.2013.11.1119

Nanoscopy of filamentous actin in cortical dendrites of a living mouse

Biophys J. 2014 Jan 7;106(1):L01-3. doi: 10.1016/j.bpj.2013.11.1119.

Authors

Katrin I Willig¹, Heinz Steffens², Carola Gregor², Alexander Herholt³, Moritz J Rossner³, Stefan W Hell⁴

Affiliations

¹ Department of NanoBiophotonics, Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry, Göttingen, Germany; Center for Nanoscale Microscopy and Molecular Physiology of the Brain, Göttingen, Germany. Electronic address: kwillig@gwdg.de.
² Department of NanoBiophotonics, Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry, Göttingen, Germany.
³ Department of Molecular Neurobiology and Department of Psychiatry, Ludwig-Maximilians-University, München, Germany.
⁴ Department of NanoBiophotonics, Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry, Göttingen, Germany; Center for Nanoscale Microscopy and Molecular Physiology of the Brain, Göttingen, Germany. Electronic address: shell@gwdg.de.

Abstract

We demonstrate superresolution fluorescence microscopy (nanoscopy) of protein distributions in a mammalian brain in vivo. Stimulated emission depletion microscopy reveals the morphology of the filamentous actin in dendritic spines down to 40 μm in the molecular layer of the visual cortex of an anesthetized mouse. Consecutive recordings at 43-70 nm resolution reveal dynamical changes in spine morphology.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Actin Cytoskeleton / metabolism
Actin Cytoskeleton / ultrastructure*
Animals
Dendrites / metabolism
Dendrites / ultrastructure*
Mice
Microscopy, Fluorescence / methods*
Visual Cortex / metabolism
Visual Cortex / ultrastructure*