fluorescence microscopy
Meaning of fluorescence microscopy: Fluorescence microscopy uses light-emitting dyes or naturally fluorescent molecules to make specific cells, proteins, or organisms visible against a dark background.
Definition of fluorescence microscopy
Fluorescence microscopy is a laboratory technique that uses a specialized microscope to visualize structures that emit fluorescent light. A sample is illuminated with light of a particular wavelength, which is absorbed by a fluorescent molecule, either one naturally present or one added as a stain, and the molecule then emits light of a different, longer wavelength that the microscope detects.
Because only the fluorescent structures emit light detected by the microscope, they appear bright against an otherwise dark background, making it possible to visualize specific cells, proteins, or microorganisms that would be difficult to distinguish under ordinary light microscopy.
Fluorescence microscopy is widely used in pathology and microbiology, including techniques that use fluorescently labeled antibodies to identify specific proteins or organisms within a sample, and in genetic testing methods that use fluorescent probes to detect particular sequences of DNA within cells.
Used in a sentence
Fluorescence microscopy was used to identify the labeled antibody bound to the tissue sample.
Good to know
Fluorescence microscopy depends on a fluorescent molecule being present, either naturally or added as a stain, so it visualizes only the specific structures that molecule labels rather than the full sample seen under ordinary light microscopy.
Word origin
Where “fluorescence microscopy” comes from
Formed from fluorescence, named after the mineral fluorite, from Latin fluere, meaning to flow, combined with microscopy, from Greek mikros, meaning small, and skopein, meaning to look at or examine.