TABLE 1.

Qualitative comparison of myofibrillar images with different coverslips

Excitation	Glass uncoated	Quartz uncoated	Sapphire uncoated	Olympus uncoated	Sapphire coated with gold	Olympus coated with gold	Olympus coated with silver
TIRF	+++*	+++	+++	++	++(dim)	++ (dim)	++ (dim)
EPI	++†	++†	++†	++†	++	+	−
SPCE	NP‡	NP	NP	NP	+++	+++	++

Excitation was with Argon laser at 488 nm.

^*+++, very good; ++, good; +, fair; −, inferior.

^†Images are good because myofibril is thin (∼0.5 μm).

^‡Not possible.