Quantifying distortions in two-photon remote focussing microscope images using a volumetric calibration specimen

User-friendly oblique plane microscopy on a fully functional commercially available microscope base

In this work we present an oblique plane microscope designed to work seamlessly with a commercially available microscope base. To support all the functionality offered by the microscope base, where the position of the objective lens is not fixed, we adopted a two-mirror scanning geometry that can compensate for changes to the position of the objective lens during routine microscope operation. We showed that within a ± 1 mm displacement range of the 100X, 1.35 NA objective lens away from its designed position, the PSF size increased by <3% and <11% in the lateral and axial dimensions, respectively, while the error in magnification was <0.5% within volumes extending ± 10 µm about the focal plane. Compared to the more traditional scan-lens/galvo-mirror combination, the two-mirror scanning geometry offers higher light efficiency and a more compact footprint, which could be beneficial to all OPM designs regardless of the use of a commercial base or not.

Alignment and characterization of remote-refocusing systems

The technique of remote refocusing is used in optical microscopy to provide rapid axial scanning without mechanically perturbing the sample and in techniques such as oblique plane microscopy that build on remote refocusing to image a tilted plane within the sample. The magnification between the pupils of the primary (O1) and secondary (O2) microscope objectives of the remote-refocusing system has been shown previously by Mohanan and Corbett [J. Microsc.288, 95 (2022)JMICAR0022-272010.1111/jmi.12991] to be crucial in obtaining the broadest possible remote-refocusing range. In this work, we performed an initial alignment of a remote-refocusing system and then studied the effect of axial misalignments of O1 and O2, axial misalignment of the primary tube lens (TL1) relative to the secondary tube lens (TL2), lateral misalignments of TL2, and changes in the focal length of  TL2. For each instance of the setup, we measured the mean point spread function F W H M xy of 100 nm fluorescent beads and the normalized bead integrated fluorescence signal, and we calculated the axial and lateral distortion of the system; all of these quantities were mapped over the remote-refocusing range and as a function of lateral image position. This allowed us to estimate the volume over which diffraction-limited performance is achieved and how this changes with the alignment of the system.

Understanding the limits of remote focusing

It has previously been demonstrated in both simulation and experiment that well aligned remote focusing microscopes exhibit residual spherical aberration outside the focal plane. In this work, compensation of the residual spherical aberration is provided by the correction collar on the primary objective, controlled by a high precision stepper motor. A Shack-Hartmann wave front sensor is used to demonstrate the magnitude of the spherical aberration generated by the correction collar matches that predicted by an optical model of the objective lens. The limited impact of spherical aberration compensation on the diffraction limited range of the remote focusing system is described through a consideration of both on-axis and off-axis comatic and astigmatic aberrations, which are an inherent feature of remote focusing microscopes.

Precompensation of 3D field distortions in remote focus two-photon microscopy

Remote focusing is widely used in 3D two-photon microscopy and 3D photostimulation because it enables fast axial scanning without moving the objective lens or specimen. However, due to the design constraints of microscope optics, remote focus units are often located in non-telecentric positions in the optical path, leading to significant depth-dependent 3D field distortions in the imaging volume. To address this limitation, we characterized 3D field distortions arising from non-telecentric remote focusing and present a method for distortion precompensation. We demonstrate its applicability for a 3D two-photon microscope that uses an acousto-optic lens (AOL) for remote focusing and scanning. We show that the distortion precompensation method improves the pointing precision of the AOL microscope to < 0.5 µm throughout the 400 × 400 × 400 µm imaging volume.

Spinning disk-remote focusing microscopy

Fast confocal imaging was achieved by combining remote focusing with differential spinning disk optical sectioning to rapidly acquire images of live samples at cellular resolution. Axial and lateral full width half maxima less than 5 µm and 490 nm respectively are demonstrated over 130 µm axial range with a 256 × 128 µm field of view. A water-index calibration slide was used to achieve an alignment that minimises image volume distortion. Application to live biological samples was demonstrated by acquiring image volumes over a 24 µm axial range at 1 volume/s, allowing for the detection of calcium-based neuronal activity in Platynereis dumerilii larvae.

The temporal structure of the inner retina at a single glance

The retina decomposes visual stimuli into parallel channels that encode different features of the visual environment. Central to this computation is the synaptic processing in a dense layer of neuropil, the so-called inner plexiform layer (IPL). Here, different types of bipolar cells stratifying at distinct depths relay the excitatory feedforward drive from photoreceptors to amacrine and ganglion cells. Current experimental techniques for studying processing in the IPL do not allow imaging the entire IPL simultaneously in the intact tissue. Here, we extend a two-photon microscope with an electrically tunable lens allowing us to obtain optical vertical slices of the IPL, which provide a complete picture of the response diversity of bipolar cells at a "single glance". The nature of these axial recordings additionally allowed us to isolate and investigate batch effects, i.e. inter-experimental variations resulting in systematic differences in response speed. As a proof of principle, we developed a simple model that disentangles biological from experimental causes of variability and allowed us to recover the characteristic gradient of response speeds across the IPL with higher precision than before. Our new framework will make it possible to study the computations performed in the central synaptic layer of the retina more efficiently.

Multi-plane remote refocusing epifluorescence microscopy to image dynamic Ca 2 + events

Rapid imaging of multiple focal planes without sample movement may be achieved through remote refocusing, where imaging is carried out in a plane conjugate to the sample plane. The technique is ideally suited to studying the endothelial and smooth muscle cell layers of blood vessels. These are intrinsically linked through rapid communication and must be separately imaged at a sufficiently high frame rate in order to understand this biologically crucial interaction. We have designed and implemented an epifluoresence-based remote refocussing imaging system that can image each layer at up to 20fps using different dyes and excitation light for each layer, without the requirement for optically sectioning microscopy. A novel triggering system is used to activate the appropriate laser and image acquisition at each plane of interest. Using this method, we are able to achieve axial plane separations down to 15  μ m, with a mean lateral stability of ≤ 0.32  μ m displacement using a 60x, 1.4NA imaging objective and a 60x, 0.7NA reimaging objective. The system allows us to image and quantify endothelial cell activity and smooth muscle cell activity at a high framerate with excellent lateral and good axial resolution without requiring complex beam scanning confocal microscopes, delivering a cost effective solution for imaging two planes rapidly. We have successfully imaged and analysed Ca 2 + activity of the endothelial cell layer independently of the smooth muscle layer for several minutes.

Microscope calibration using laser written fluorescence

There is currently no widely adopted standard for the optical characterization of fluorescence microscopes. We used laser written fluorescence to generate two- and three-dimensional patterns to deliver a quick and quantitative measure of imaging performance. We report on the use of two laser written patterns to measure the lateral resolution, illumination uniformity, lens distortion and color plane alignment using confocal and structured illumination fluorescence microscopes.

Single-Cell Optical Distortion Correction and Label-Free 3D Cell Shape Reconstruction on Lattices of Nanostructures

Imaging techniques can be compromised by aberrations. Especially when imaging through biological specimens, sample-induced distortions can limit localization accuracy. In particular, this phenomenon affects localization microscopy, traction force measurements, and single-particle tracking, which offer high-resolution insights into biological tissue. Here we present a method for quantifying and correcting the optical distortions induced by single, adherent, living cells. The technique uses periodically patterned gold nanostructures as a reference framework to quantify optically induced displacements with micrometer-scale sampling density and an accuracy of a few nanometers. The 3D cell shape and a simplified geometrical optics approach are then utilized to remap the microscope image. Our experiments reveal displacements of up to several hundred nanometers, and in corrected images these distortions are reduced by a factor of 3. Conversely, the relationship between cell shape and distortion provides a novel method of 3D cell shape reconstruction from a single image, enabling label-free 3D cell analysis.

Axial beam scanning in multiphoton microscopy with MEMS-based actuator

We demonstrate a remotely located microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) actuator that can translate >400 μm to perform axial beam scanning in a multiphoton microscope. We use a 2-dimensional MEMS mirror for lateral scanning, and collected multiphoton excited fluorescence images in either the horizontal or vertical plane with a field-of-view of either 270 × 270 or 270 × 200 μm², respectively, at 5 frames per second. Axial resolution varied from 4.5 to 7 μm over the scan range. The compact size of the actuator and scanner allows for use in an endomicroscope to collect images in the vertical plane with >200 μm depth.