Key Features for LV200

Conventional microscope frames are optimised mainly for transmission and fluorescence application.  Bioluminescent cells show signals which are several orders of magnitude lower than comparable fluorescence markers.  In addition, the brightness of luminescence probes decreases drasically with increasing magnification.  Therefore, Olympus has developed a completely new optical path which allows highly sensitive imaging of bioluminescence cells.  The key components of the unique LV200 Luminoview system are a tube lens with high exit N.A., and an extremely short distance between objective and detector.

Due to the enormous increase in light output compared to a conventional microscope setup, the use of low resolution photon counting systems or high pixel binning has become obsolete.  Depending on the required time resolution, EM-CCD cameras or cooled, slow-scan CCD cameras can be used.

The unique optical design of LV200 still uses standard, high N.A. fluorescence objectives.  Therefore the whole range of magnifications and immersion techniques of fluorescence objectives are available .

Bioluminescence techniques are often used for extremely long, live cell analyses.  For example, gene expression levels are monitored over a time period of one or two weeks.  An inbuilt system for temperature control, humidity and gas flow (e.g CO₂ and O₂ mix) helps to keep the cultured cells or tissue slices in a healthy condition throughout the entire observation range.

The unique LV200 light tight enclosure shields the sample and optics from any external light.  Therefore, most applications do not require the use of a darkroom.

For a combined bioluminescence and fluorescence image, standard motorised filter wheels have been integrated.  The emission filters can also be used to discriminate between different bioluminescence probes with separate emission spectra.