Table 2.

Refractive Indices of Borosilicate Glass Capillaries and Optical Imaging Solutions Used

Solution	Refractive index	Comments about use
Borosilicate glass capillary	1.47–1.4914	Used for housing
Water	1.3415	Slight distortion, but can work if needed (not shown)
Vegetable oil (soybean)	1.4714	Not much distortion; slight GFP background
Mineral oil	1.4814	No distortion creates bubbles easily
75% Glycerol	1.46	High viscosity; may harm living fish; best for fixed larvae
Light corn syrup (Brix = 80)	∼1.518	High viscosity
50% Sucrose	1.46418	Recommended optical imaging solution for live embryos if using borosilicate glass

Brix, measurement of the fraction of sugar per hundred parts of aqueous solution as measured by mass.