FIGURE 4.

Radioluminescence microscopy. (A) Emission of an intracellular radionuclide can be detected as radioluminescence with a scintillator plate (yellow glow). The optical photons are captured by a high-numerical-aperture objective coupled to a deep-cooled EM-CCD camera. Concurrent fluorescence and brightfield microscopy are enabled by emission and excitation filters used in combination with a light source. (B) An in culture medium immersed scintillator plate in a glass-bottom dish is placed into the inverted microscope. (C) Three GFP-expressing HeLa cells were imaged using fluorescence microscopy. (D) After incubation with ¹⁸F-FDG the focal radioluminescence signal coincided with the fluorescent signal. (E) An example of radioluminescence microscopy. MDA-MB-231 cells were incubated for 1 h with ¹⁸F-FDG and the fluorescent 2-NBDG. Brightfield image (scale bar, 100 μm), radioluminescence (FDG), and fluorescence (2-NBDG) micrographs. The overlay shows co-localized radioluminescence (green) and fluorescence (red). Source: Pratx et al. (2012). Adapted and reproduced with permission from PLoS One.