Submitted on February 29, 2008
Accepted on March 17, 2008
Image Acquisition for Colocalization Using Optical Microscopy
David R.L. Scriven1, Ronald M. Lynch2, and Edwin D.W. Moore1*
1 University of British Columbia
2 University of Arizona Health Science Center
* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: edmoore{at}interchange.ubc.ca.
Colocalization, in which images of two or more fluorescent markers are overlaid, and coincidence between the probes is measured or displayed, is a common analytical tool in cell biology. Interpreting the images, and the meaning of this identified coincidence, is difficult in the absence of basic information about the acquisition parameters. In this commentary, we highlight important factors in the acquisition of images used to demonstrate colocalization, and discuss the minimum information that authors should include in a manuscript so that a reader can interpret both the fluorescent images and any observed colocalization.
