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Assessing phototoxicity in live fluorescence imaging

Nature Methods volume 14, pages 657–661 (2017)Cite this article

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Abstract

Are the answers to biological questions obtained via live fluorescence microscopy substantially affected by phototoxicity? Although a single set of standards for assessing phototoxicity cannot exist owing to the breadth of samples and experimental questions associated with biological imaging, we need quantitative, practical assessments and reporting standards to ensure that imaging has a minimal impact on observed biological processes and sample health. Here we discuss the problem of phototoxicity in biology and suggest guidelines to improve its reporting and assessment.

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Figure 1: The effect of low levels of blue light on cell proliferation.
Figure 2: The four main considerations for live imaging.
Figure 3: Identifying species-specific criteria for the assessment of phototoxicity.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank all the delegates of LSFM2016 who attended and contributed to an exciting roundtable discussion. LSFM2016 was supported by the Company of Biologists (EA1170). P.P.L. thanks R. Heintzmann, S. Fraser, J. Huisken, and J.A. Laissue for discussions on phototoxicity. This work was supported by the Royal Society (IF150018 to P.P.L.) and by King Abdulaziz University, Rabigh Campus, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia (scholarship to R.A.A.).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Biological Sciences, University of Essex, Colchester, UK

    P Philippe Laissue & Rana A Alghamdi

  2. Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics, Dresden, Germany

    Pavel Tomancak

  3. UCD School of Biomolecular and Biomedical Science, University College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland

    Emmanuel G Reynaud

  4. National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering, US National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, USA

    Hari Shroff

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  1. P Philippe Laissue
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  2. Rana A Alghamdi
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  4. Emmanuel G Reynaud
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to P Philippe Laissue.

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Supplementary information

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Supplementary Table 1

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Laissue, P., Alghamdi, R., Tomancak, P. et al. Assessing phototoxicity in live fluorescence imaging. Nat Methods 14, 657–661 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/nmeth.4344

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