This lecture will discuss some practical considerations for using this microscope and compare results obtained with conventional versus confocal microscopy.
Point scanning confocal microscopy has advantages and disadvantages for imaging.
The major disadvantage is the need for intense illumination of the sample. In many cases, careful preparation of the sample can overcome these disadvantages. The Leica confocal microscopy has proven useful for my own work on sub-cellular localization of proteins, mapping projection patterns of individual neurons, development in living embryos, enumeration of flourescent objects, and finally for preparation of high quality illustrations. The improved separation of the signal is obtained at the expense of slightly worse spatial alignment of the two dyes. The files can be merged later with Leica software.