| Abstract: | A new type of morphometry, which shortens the scanning time of precise observation by confocal microscopy, has been investigated. To analyse the 3-D distribution of active sites on a living cell, microspheres of the same size were immunologically marked on specific sites on a cell. Incident coherent light was scattered on the microspheres and the scattered light from each microsphere superimposed upon each other giving a diffraction pattern of the examined cell. Several series of interference fringes were generated on the diffraction pattern, according to the phase difference of the microspheres. These interference fringes on the 2-D diffraction pattern enable the (relative) 3-D positions of the microspheres to be determined. 3-D dynamic morphometry on a 2-D diffraction pattern with interference fringes speeds up imaging in confocal microscopy. |
