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Brillouin microscopy: an emerging tool for mechanobiology

Nature Methods volume 16, pages 969–977 (2019)Cite this article

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Abstract

The role and importance of mechanical properties of cells and tissues in cellular function, development and disease has widely been acknowledged, however standard techniques currently used to assess them exhibit intrinsic limitations. Recently, Brillouin microscopy, a type of optical elastography, has emerged as a non-destructive, label- and contact-free method that can probe the viscoelastic properties of biological samples with diffraction-limited resolution in 3D. This led to increased attention amongst the biological and medical research communities, but it also sparked debates about the interpretation and relevance of the measured physical quantities. Here, we review this emerging technology by describing the underlying biophysical principles and discussing the interpretation of Brillouin spectra arising from heterogeneous biological matter. We further elaborate on the technique’s limitations, as well as its potential for gaining insights in biology, in order to guide interested researchers from various fields.

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Fig. 1: Brillouin scattering in heterogeneous biological samples.
Fig. 2: Schematic of Brillouin scattering.
Fig. 3: Spectrometer realizations in Brillouin microscopy.
Fig. 4: Synopsis of the main elastic moduli involved in mechanobiology.
Fig. 5: Brillouin microscopy in current biology and medicine.

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Acknowledgements

We thank G. Scarcelli and C. J. Chan for insightful discussions and feedback on the manuscript, Q. Yang and P. Liberali (Friedrich Miescher Institute, Basel) as well as V. de Turris and A. Rosa (Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Roma) for providing the samples shown in Fig. 5a and c, respectively; and C. Bevilacqua and M. Bergert for help with figures. This work was supported by the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (R.P., A.D.-M.), the COST Action CA16124 (‘BioBrillouin’) and the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) research grant DI 2205/2-1 (A.D.-M.).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Cell Biology and Biophysics Unit, European Molecular Biology Laboratory, Heidelberg, Germany

    Robert Prevedel & Alba Diz-Muñoz

  2. Developmental Biology Unit, European Molecular Biology Laboratory, Heidelberg, Germany

    Robert Prevedel

  3. Epigenetics and Neurobiology Unit, European Molecular Biology Laboratory, Monterotondo, Italy

    Robert Prevedel

  4. Center for Life Nano Science, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Rome, Italy

    Giancarlo Ruocco & Giuseppe Antonacci

  5. Department of Physics, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy

    Giancarlo Ruocco

  6. Photonics Research Group, Ghent University – IMEC, Ghent, Belgium

    Giuseppe Antonacci

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R.P., A.D.-M., G.R. and G.A. wrote the manuscript.

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Prevedel, R., Diz-Muñoz, A., Ruocco, G. et al. Brillouin microscopy: an emerging tool for mechanobiology. Nat Methods 16, 969–977 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41592-019-0543-3

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