Super-Resolution STED and STORM/PALM Microscopy for Brain Imaging

Abstract

Cellular processes in the brain allow for most complex computations, which in turn provide the basis of any form of behaviour. With the advent of diffraction-unlimited imaging techniques, it is now possible to study processes in neurons with unprecedented subcellular resolution. Based on the illumination and recording techniques, two approaches are dominating super-resolution microscopy: stimulated emission depletion (STED) microscopy, which is based on image scanning, and stochastic optical reconstruction microscopy (STORM)/photoactivated localization microscopy (PALM), which makes use of single-molecule localization. In the last decade, both approaches led to spectacular insight into the nanostructure of various neuronal compartments. We highlight a selection of studies, in which neuronal structures and processes were imaged with super-resolution, including the cytoskeleton of axons, plasticity in dendritic spines as well as molecular arrangements in presynaptic terminals and active zones.