仿生水凝胶结构特性的超分辨率荧光成像

Biomimetic hydrogels have a wide variety of applications in the biomedical field. Functional biomimetic hydrogels which are based on polyisocyanopeptides have the same structure property as actin microfilaments and intermediate filaments of cytoskeleton. ALEXA647 dyes are labeled onto polymer chains of hydrogels, and total internal reflection fluorescence microscopy is used to image hydrogels. Super-resolution fluorescence images for hydrogels are achieved by super-resolution optical fluctuation imaging (SOFI) and deconvolution. The SOFI imaging also features significant back-ground reduction and thus contrast enhancement. Network structures of hydrogels and bundles of polymer chains are visualized by SOFI imaging. It is found that bundle dimensions are constant irrespective of polymer concentration and have smaller pores sizes at higher concentration. The property of biomimetic hydrogels in aqueous solution is also observed.