CONFOCOR
3
Carl Zeiss
Options
ConfoCor 3
130 M60-1-0025
e
02/2010
(2) Determination of the laser beam
position in an LSM image
•
Obtain an LSM image of a dried layer of a
suitable dye. Optimize focus position
To obtain the dye layer, dissolve the dye at a
concentration of 1 µM in ethanol, cover the
bottom of a suitable glass bottom chamber
with the dye solution, and let evaporate over
night in a laminar hood.
•
In the ConfoCor
Measure
tool select
Current
from the
Positions
panel.
•
Perform a pre-bleach with high laser power for
3 seconds. Close the pinhole to 10 in order to
avoid high count rates on the APDs.
•
Re-scan the image. The bleached spots should
be visible (Fig. 141).
The coordinates of a bleached position is
only valid for a certain zoom, offset and
rotation. Without rotation and offset, the
scanners are parked and the bleached spot
should be in the middle of an n x n frame
size image fir the ConfoCor 3. For
ConfoCor 2 on a different port than the
LSM, there will be an offset from the middle,
depending on the alignment of the two
optical axes of the ConfoCor and the LSM.
•
Record the position of the spot.
−
With the crosshair. Place crosshair above the
bleached spot (Fig. 141). We recommend to
use the crosshair for positioning your cell.
−
With the cursor. Make sure that under
Options
/
LSM Settings
in the
Image
Status Display
tab the
Pixel Intensity
box
is checked to activate the display of the
coordinates. The coordinates will than be
displayed at the
Status Area
(Fig. 142.
−
With an overlay arrow. Click
Overlay
and
activate the
Arrow
button. Place the
arrowhead in the middle of the spot.
Fig. 141
LSM image after bleaching in the
ConfoCor 2 with cross hair
positioned; the offset from the
optical axis is due to an ioffset
between the optical axis of the
ConfoCor 2 and the LSM
Fig. 142
LSM image after bleaching in the
ConfoCor 3 with cross hair
positioned; there is no offset
between the ConfoCor 3 and the
LSM and the bleach is on the optical
axis in the center of the image