Abstract

The marriage of the optical microscope and environmentally sensitive fluorescent probes has allowed the biologist to study the chemical and molecular dynamics of intact cells, providing fundamental information regarding the homeostatic and pathologic functions of individual living cells and tissues. Time-resolved fluorescence microscopy permits the quantitation of dynamic events at very high temporal resolution and provides the ability to monitor interactions between cellular components with very high spatial resolution. We review the recent adaptation of fluorescence lifetimes to the fluorescence microscope and describe some biomedical applications of this new type of high-speed microscopy.

© 1995 Optical Society of America