I am looking for a new microscope for epifluorescence and brightfield imaging in the upright configuration to use for live imaging of brain slices along with some electrophysiology. I am primarily considering an Oympus BX51W, but I came across this Revolve microscope that claims to be able to do both upright and inverted (by revolving the microscope around as they show in the demo video). I would need to set up the rig with a perfusion system and need to fit electrodes under the objective (stimulating/recording field potentials and whole cell patch-clamp) - has anyone here used this microscope and had success in doing slice experiments?
I am primarily imaging cerebral blood vessels, and wonder if anyone has experience using phase contrast for vascular imaging? I've only used IR-DIC for this purpose and it works beautifully, but I think this Revolve microscope can only do phase contrast or brightfield, not DIC.
I'm trying to decide whether it's even worth getting a demo for the Revolve microscope, or whether I should just go ahead with the Olympus. Any input is appreciated. Thanks very much!
I would begin with calling the tech service of the device. They would at least give you the information if their microscope can be readily equipped with DIC. If not, that would take it off your list of potential possibilities. If yes, only then the opinions of other users about features of convenience and quality of optics will be valuable.
Over the years, I have switched from Ziess to Nikon and have been quite happy with the quality of optics in DIC as well as the rest for a lower price than Ziess. However, I have never needed to performed electrochemical work.
Thank you, Tausif. I have indeed sent them a request and hopefully I hear back soon. In the meantime, I wonder still whether anyone out there has used phase contrast optics to image in slices and, if so, how good the imaging is compared to DIC optics. (The revolve microscope definitely has phase contrast).
Generally speaking, for live cell viewing, the quality of images improve in the following order:
1. Phase contrast - useful
2. Nomarski/DIC - good
3. Laser scanning confocal - excellent
We used to call DIC poor man's confocal... ;)
We have purchased Revolve microscope month or so ago. Its very user friendly and easy microscope to operate. Image quality pretty good considering its price and other features. This microscope use Olympus lenses and works really well for both fluorescence and bright field. But keep in mind this is not a high-end microscope. We use it for our regular work when we dont need confocal images.
Thanks Dilshan. I got myself an Olympus BX51 for now - that'll be my workhorse, but this one might come in handy as you say for the purposes of regular day-to-day imaging. Maybe one day in the future.
Have you looked at Etaluma's Lumascopes? Just inverted, brightfield, phase, and super-efficient epifluorescence.
Could I use it for the examination of Mycoplasma colonies and if so what are the specification needed for such purpose
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