Table 4.
Representative examples of applications of different microscopy modalities to assess ECM main components.
| ECM Component | Imaging Modality | Representative References |
|---|---|---|
| Collagen | WFFM, LCSM, SHG | [49,55,58,59,60,61,62,63,64,65,66,67,68,69,70,71,72,73,74] |
| Elastin | WFFM, LCSM, TPEF | [68,69,70,71,75,76,77] |
| Fibronectin | LCSM | [49,58,62,72] |
| Laminins | LCSM | [49,61,62,72] |
| Proteoglycans | LCSM, SIM, CARS, DSCM | [74,78,79,80,81] |
| Hyaluronan | LSCM, DSCM, | [80,82,83] |
| Cell-ECM interactions | STED, PALM | [50,84,85,86,87,88,89] |
| Other EC components | PALM, STORM, TIRF, CARS, THG | [52,90,91,92,93,94,95,96,97,98] |
ECM: extracellular matrix; EC: extracellular; WFFM: widefield fluorescence microscopy; TIRF: total internal reflection microscopy; LSCM: laser scanning confocal microscopy; SDCM: spinning disk confocal microscopy; STED: stimulated emission depletion; PALM: photoactivated localization microscopy; STORM: stochastic optical reconstruction microscopy; TPEF: two-photon excited fluorescence. SHG: second-harmonic generation; THG: third-harmonic generation; CARS: coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering.