AUTOFLUORESCENCE OF LIVING CELLS

We have investigated the autofluorescence of viable mammalian cells (D U-145 and V79) with a confocal laser scanning microscope equipped with a UV laser. Our aim was to investigate the autofluorescence dependenc e on different treatments in mitochondria and lysosomes by using diffe rent reagents and to improve the confocal laser scanning microscope im age quality by deconvolution. The following conclusions were drawn fro m the results: (1) not all of the autofluorescence comes from mitochon dria; (2) one can significantly affect the signal which comes from the mitochondria; (3) the other organelles involved are probably lysosome s; (4) it is harder to affect the autofluorescence signal from the lys osomes than that from the mitochondria, and(5) deconvoluted autofluore scence images provide better information than undeconvoluted ones.