Are you sure you get the best image quality out of your microscope? About cleaning the front lens and using the aperture diaphragm.

No matter what microscope is in use, it should always be the intention of the user to optimize the image, means to get maximum information out of the sample. We are not talking about aesthetics, as some wrong microscope setup creates nice but misleading images, for example based on diffraction effects. From an educational model to a high-end outfit: experience shows that on any level of hardware and user knowledge mistakes are possible. Microscope experts are sometimes irritated when they walk through a hospital lab. Teaching correct microscope handling is simply not spirit of the time.

For an optimal image quality, the front lens of the microscope objective should be simply “clean”. No scratches, not grease, no residuals of immersion oil. This is not easy to achieve, as in daily work, especially with multiple users, a care for this aspect is not always in focus.

A nice example of a scratched/dirty front lens

What are blue-green algae?

Blue algae are cyanobacteria and live on light, carbon dioxide and nutrients dissolved in the water. Blue algae were the first organisms on earth and they produce oxygen. Many nutrients in the water can cause blue-green algae blooms.

The video and photo are showing these organisms present in a sample of water from a port in the southern Netherlands. The sample was taken shortly after exceptionally hot days with an outside air temperature of 40 degrees Celsius. With a blue-green algae bloom, the many blue-green algae on the water surface can come together and form a floating layer. Many types of blue-green algae make poisons. Contact with or swallowing blue-green algae can cause health problems.

Case of ovarian cavernous hemangioma

Case report

A 46 year-old woman without any pathological background except multiple uterine leiomyomas was undergone to a total hysterectomy and bilateral adnexectomy. During study of surgical specimen, a little reddish nodule of 9 mm was discovered in the hilum of the left ovary. 

Microscopically, this nodule was made of dilated thin-walled vascular channels, filled of blood.

Image taken with a Moticam X3

Lick granuloma dog

A lick granuloma or acral lick dermatitis is a place on the skin as a result of frequent licking by the dog and is found usually at the end of the paws, hence acral (think of the Athenian Acropolis: city on top) Lesion is sharply defined. This is a nasty ailment. It is not always clear what causes it, but itching is often the reason. A physical cause is rarely found. Usually the cause is psychological such as boredom, separation anxiety, stress, nervousness or attention seeking behavior. Licking is then a distraction for the dog. Once the dog is licking, it is difficult to stop this. It has become a habit for the dog.

The first symptoms are discoloration of the coat due to the saliva. The skin can become thicker and bald. Inflammation of the skin is possible due to the granuloma. This starts itching more and makes the dog more lick and bite. Then the dog comes in a vicious circle. The process can continue down to the bone, sometimes amputation is necessary. A lick granuloma actually only occurs on the front legs.

Primitive, but unique

Ferns are perhaps very old plants, but they are unique in their kind. They already occur in several hundred million year old fossils. After all, it was the first plant with roots and a real vascular system. In this way the ferns managed to extract water from the ground and use it for their further development. Because of the branches of the vessels it was also possible to get the water into the tops of the feathers or leaves. Ferns do not carry flowers. They therefore do not propagate with seeds, caused by fertilization of pistils with pollen through bees, beetles, birds, wind or otherwise. 

Honey - Try to find out its origin

Honey is one of the oldest food products. Cave paintings from the stone age give witness of how the product of wild bees has been used as the first sweetener, containing lots of positive ingredients for a general healing effect.

Nowadays honey is part of the food industry with its profit orientated mechanisms. Price is an issue, and the cold hurled product needs careful attention and efforts for maximum quality.

The origin of a product in general is essential for tracing the manufacturing steps. Latest since BIO became a quality issue in food industry, foodstuff testing laboratories are looking for hints to find out the nectar and honeydew sources which are the basis of honey. Pollen residuals within the honey give a clear indication about the region of origin. In Europe, honey from Central America is widespread, but not always clearly indicated. Eastern Europe and China are playing an important role as honey producers.

Once the pollen is detected and allocated to a defined plant species, it is easy to debunk imposters. Pollen from tropic plants found in a honey sample declared as a Central European product – a microscope will be the necessary tool to find out. Brightfield illumination is the required method, Phase contrast is not optimal as the pollen grains clearly have a significant 3D dimension, too thick for applying this contrast method. Simple POL contrast may help to find the isolated pollen grains within the honey sample.

Some examples from the Middle European flora:

Leontodon spec.

It hides in moss and lichen

When studying moss and lichen under the microscope, you will discover that in addition to the beautiful pictures it produces, a lot of animal life crawls around in it. If you walk through nature and see the many types of moss and lichen, you actually do not realize that. This is perhaps due to the fact that the animals are hardly visible to the naked eye.

Rabbits

The reproductive organs of the rabbit female are seen as primitive. The fixing of the gender of the rabbit occurs during the embryonic phase, on the 16th day after conception. The ovaries develop from a mass of cells that are located near the testicles. The development of the ovaries is accompanied by the degeneration of the male testicles. The development of egg cells occurs approximately from the 21st day and will continue until birth, around the 30th day.

The first follicle, the "bags" in which the eggs (ova) mature, develops 13 days after birth. (See the accompanying photo on which the follicles containing the eggs can be seen at various stages of development) The development of the ovary starts around the 21st day after birth and continues until the 30th day. The first eggs do not begin to develop until 13 days after birth. The ovaries, ellipse shaped bodies of approximately 1.5 cm, are found at the end of each uterus, just below the kidneys.

Spores

For some people moss is a green plague. For other people moss is of unprecedented beauty. The Netherlands has more than 600 species of moss. There is even a real red list of rare and endangered moss species. Moss is a spore plant. The sporangium grows into a thickening in which the spores are located. As soon as the spores are ripe, the thickening will lose its cap and the spores can be transported by the wind.

A perfect sample for understanding the fine focus procedure: Pollen grains from Cobaea scandens

Cobaea Scandens (Jacob’s ladder family) is a widespread ornamental plant for garden and balcony. Domiciled in Mexico, this climbing plant is cultivated as an annual in the temperate zones.

Beside its aesthetics with bell-shaped violet flowers, there are two more aspects worth to mention:

• This plant is pollinated by bats. 
• Tthe large (~ 160 microns Ø) pollen grains of Cobaea show a complex structure which is worth to discover.

Pollen Grains in Brighfield

Silent flight

Why can an owl fly almost silently? The owl hunts at night and wants to make as little noise as possible in order not to frighten his prey.

Selecting the right microscope

AE Series

Category: Advanced Inverted Microscopes for Transmitted light

Target specimen: Cell cultures from microbiology, in flasks or petri dishes, on agar or in fluids; water samples from biology

Target customer: Lab technicians, advanced students

This comparison is an approach for classifying different Inverted microscopes in a defined performance range. Here we are talking about Motic’s AE series, meant for routine work in the microbiology lab of universities and related labs of industrial companies.

The following chart is based on the specifications of the basic outfit of both AE models and its available options. Within this series of publications, our rating always rests upon an individual understanding and validation of the actual numerical values.

AE SERIES - Comparison Chart

Inverted but also ‘upright’

The photos show a cross section of a leaf stalk or petiole of the mahogany tree. A Motic inverted microscope with a fluorescence attachment is used for this. The attachment is equipped with a DAPI long pass filter (excitation at 375 nm).

It’s time for a Biology class!!

Cells are studied with a microscope and after learning about the differences between eukaryotic plant and animal cells and looking at prepared slides of cells and understanding the reason for staining, the subject of cells becomes more interesting. Why you might ask? Cells don’t all look the same, there are different structures and functions to understand and the reasons for why cells can become specialised. In order for cells to develop and survive they divide and this ability to divide is controlled by a series of stages called the cell cycle. There are two main stages of the cell cycle which are ‘Growth and Replication’ which is followed by ‘Mitosis’.

The process of mitosis enables a cell to divide into two exact copies which are identical to the original cell. When the cell is ready to divide as controlled by the cell cycle, the process of mitosis begins and proceeds in stages. These stages are in an order of Prophase, Metaphase, Anaphase, Telophase and finally Cytokinesis.

Fluorescence a useful phenomenon

Fluorescence microscopy is a variant of light microscopy, which is based on the principle of fluorescence. The property of certain fluorescent substances (fluorochromes) is exploited to absorb light - in this case an FITC-filter was used - and release it again with a different longer wavelength, in this case green. However, there is also the limitation of this type of microscopy, since only samples in which these substances have been introduced or which they naturally contain (auto-fluorescence) can be observed. The fluorescence microscope finds great application above all in biology, biochemistry and biophysics, where it is used for the observation of cell components. because it can also represent structures that are far below the resolution limit. 

What makes a human tooth

The images of a cross-section of the root of a tooth (a ground preparation) show various details of the structure of a tooth. Many of the visible details will not be discussed here. To go more deeply, scientific literature is available.

If money could grow as easy as baker’s yeast…

To watch the budding, it helps if you focus on one square e.g. the upper left; the restless image on the video is caused by the ‘Brownian movement’, water molecules that collide with the yeast cells.

Take some baker’s yeast and grape sugar and dissolve it in a little water, use a cell culture dish and a Motic inverted microscope. With Motic Images Plus 3.0 ML tuned for time laps, shooting frequency one image per minute, you will get the best results.

Yeast cells use sugars to grow. With sufficient oxygen supply - like in this case - the yeasts completely burn their nutrients into water and carbon dioxide, like all aerobic organisms e.g.:

C6H12O6 + 6H2O + 6O2 ==> 6CO2ꝉ + 12H2O

Don't fall into a pitcher plant

A pitcher plant (Nepenthes) is a soloist. The cups of this whimsical eye-catcher vary in length from a few centimeters to more than 30 cm. They are actually transformed leaves that develop when the plant receives sufficient light. Insects find nectar on the lid above the cup and crawl around the cup, looking for more. Just below the cup rim they find new nectar, but immediately below is a slide of wax. They slip into it and fall into the cup.

The scrambling of the creatures activates the glands in the cup which thereby release a strong acid. This acid digests the insects in two days. Only the shell of the animal remains. The plant grows as an epiphyte in trees.

Prepared slide by Lieder www.lieder.com

Breathing under water

Breathing:

Gills are the respiratory organs of many aquatic animals. With fish, the gills are in a space behind the head. Fishes exchange gasses with water through the gills.

Genista

In the photos of the botanical prepared slide shown here, we see a part of the cross-section of a twig of Genista spec. The slide was made in 1964 and is in very good condition still. The coloring was done with the dyes acridine red, chrysoidine, and astra blue. The mounting medium is Caedax. Caedax is a synthetic substitute for Canada Balsam in microscopic techniques.

Large cattail

Typha latifolia, called ‘large cattail’ in English, is a water plant that is mainly found in eutrophic and acid water, along the shores of ponds, ditches and in swamps. This perennial has an upward and wide-spread growth habit. It is easy proliferating through rhizomes. If planted in a garden pond, locking it in a good pond basket is the message. The leaves are broad, linear and blue-green colored. Large cattail blooms from June to September with double cigar-shaped ears. The male ears are at the top, the female right below. After wind fertilization, the characteristic brown colored ‘cigars' form the female flowers. The seeds of cattail develop from the flowers on the cigars. The seed fluff is normally transported by the wind. The plant is hardy, endures sea breeze, air pollution and has a beautiful winter silhouette.

 

Pollen bring light into the darkness

A way of classifying pollen species is by monitoring auto fluorescence images of pollen grains. Several components of the exine (i.e. the outer layer of the pollen wall) show conspicuous auto fluorescence in the pollen grain.

What is scabies?

Scabies is an infection of the skin caused by a scabies mite. The Latin name for this is 'Sarcoptes scabiei'.

The females of the scabies mite dig small passageways in the top layer of the skin and lay their eggs in it. These eggs come out after three to four days. The animals are grown-up within 18 days. The faeces, the secretions, the eggs and certain other substances cause an allergic reaction to human skin. This reaction causes itching, blisters, bumps, redness and scaling. With a first infection, it takes two to six weeks until these reactions are visible/palpable.

The Dujardin coloring technique

The images shown are taken from a beautifully colored prepared slide from the archives of the Royal Antwerp Society for Micrography. The slide is already several decades old. It shows a cross-section of a twig of the plane tree. In spite of the age of the slide, the colors are still clear and fresh thanks to the use of the simple simultaneous Dujardin coloring method. During the coloring the colors were brought into balance with great skill, showing the various plant tissues. On the fluorescence image the plant various tissues are shown in a different manner.

Green curls

Cord moss or Funaria hygrometrica is one of the most common mosses in The Netherlands, especially in severely disturbed and nutrient-rich places such as vacant lots, semi-paved roads etc. A favorite habitat is burning places. A short time after the occurrence of a burn spot, Funaria hygrometrica is almost always present. The spread with spores via the air is extremely effective! In The Netherlands there are few large areas where there is so little disruption that there is no suitable place for Funaria hygrometrica, even if only temporarily.

This is not possible with our epidermis

The scales of a fish are slanted in the skin of the fish and consist of collagen, calcium phosphate and calcium carbonate. They overlap and form a firm layer that protects the fish against injuries, parasites and enemies. In many cases they also serve as reflectors or give colors.

What’s in a buttercup bud?

The images shown are taken from a beautifully colored prepared slide from the archives of the Royal Antwerp Society for Micrography. The slide is already quite old, from 1988. It shows a cross-section of a bud of the buttercup (Ranunculus) In spite of the age of the slide, the colors are still clear and fresh. Coloring has been carried out with the dyes sun-yellow, crocein scarlet and astra blue. The very thin coupe has been embedded in the resin Euperal. The use of yellow and blue colored dyes, resulted in green colored plant tissues, which is quite special.

Cyclonexis erinus a rare organism?

Cyclonexis erinus (Chrysophytes, golden algae) is considered to be an algae, difficult to observe. The specimen shown in this video has been found in an aquatic sample taken from a small fen in the Nature Reserve ‘De Teut’ in Belgium, in February 2016 (during quite cold weather).

Only few references about this algae can be found in literature and on the internet. Only a very limited number of the species Cyclonexis sp. is known. Cyclonexis sp. lives in cool, lime poor mountain waters and in acid fens containing Sphagnum. It is mentioned that it is not so rare as is sometimes assumed. It was discovered that these algae disintegrate very quickly when external conditions are changing, causing it to disappear from the aquatic sample.

The open structure of a water plant

Hippurus (Hippuris) vulgaris or mare’s-tail is a very common swamp and pond plant. This plant (a helophyte) is counted among the oxygen plants because the underwater leaves also produce a lot of oxygen and resemble water plague (Elodea). But the piece that raises a few decimeters above water looks like a small pine tree. Mare’s-tail can form large masses and continue spreading through means of rhizomes. Mare’s-tail grows preferably on clay soil and especially in brackish water.

A fluorescent flea

Almost daily we have to deal with arthropods such as insects, spiders and their kind around us. Yet we realize less often that these animals can provide a beautiful light show.

Fireflies and other bioluminescent animals produce their luminous shine through a chemical reaction. Other arthropods produce light via fluorescence. At certain wavelengths of light including ultraviolet light, molecules in their exoskeleton absorb this light and radiate it again in a different color with a (longer) wavelength, (there are 'excited electrons' involved, but let's skip the details here)

Protected against harsh conditions

Helm grass is what we encounter in the dunes among others in the Netherlands. The Ammophillia arenaria can withstand the salty water and salty sea air. Ammophillia arenaria can be planted on all types of soil, only on clay soil it is best to make the soil poor with masonry sand. The soil must be calcareous.

Fibrosarcoma cat

A fibrosarcoma is a malignant tumor of mesenchymal connective tissue cells. Fibrosarcoma mainly occurs as a solitary tumor in the older cat. It can occur in several parts of the body. Usually on the trunk and often also between the shoulder blades, because injections are usually given here. First there is an injection site reaction that degenerates neoplastic. The rabies vaccine is known to be a possible cause of this. It is a malignant derailment of the dermal and subdermal connective tissue cells. The sarcoma grows locally very infiltratively and aggressively, not metastasizing quickly. But if so, then to the lungs and lymph nodes. Fibrosarcoma can also occur in young cats. In these cases it is often induced by a virus and there are multiple tumors over the entire body.