Shedding new light on lipid biology with coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering microscopy

2010/08/17 by Thuc T. Le, Shuhua Yue, Ji-Xin Cheng +1 · 163 citations
Agricultural and Biological Sciences · Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · Chemistry · Medicine · #Advanced Fluorescence Microscopy Techniques #Bee Products Chemical Analysis #Biology #Biophysics #Cell biology #Chemistry #Lipid droplet #Materials science #Medicine #Microscopy #Nanotechnology #Optics #Physics #Population #Raman scattering #Raman spectroscopy #Spectroscopy Techniques in Biomedical and Chemical Research

paper · pdf · doi:10.1194/jlr.r008730

published in Journal of Lipid Research 51(11), 3091-3102 (Elsevier BV)

openalex publication_date 2010/08/17 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/01

Abstract

Despite the ubiquitous roles of lipids in biology, the detection of lipids has relied on invasive techniques, population measurements, or nonspecific labeling. Such difficulties can be circumvented by a label-free imaging technique known as coherent anti-Stokes Raman (CARS) microscopy, which is capable of chemically selective, highly sensitive, and high-speed imaging of lipid-rich structures with submicron three-dimensional spatial resolution. We review the broad applications of CARS microscopy to studies of lipid biology in cell cultures, tissue biopsies, and model organisms. Recent technical advances, limitations of the technique, and perspectives are discussed.

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