Introduction of several super-resolution microscopy

Limited by the Abbe/Rayleigh criteria of light, traditional light microscopy can’t differentiate structures less than 200nm in diameter. Super-resolution fluorescence microscopy can observe subcellular structure by breaking diffraction limit. These super-resolution techniques can be generally divided into three primary classes: ①patterned illumination-based super-resolution imaging, such as stimulated emission depletion and saturated structured illumination microscopy; ②single-molecule localization-based super-resolution imaging, such as stochastic optical reconstruction microscopy and photo-activation localization microscopy; ③bleaching/blinking-based super-resolution imaging. This review summarizes the methods and applications of these three kinds of super-resolution fluorescence microscopy and discusses the perspective of this new technology. Key words: Super-resolution fluorescence microscopy; Stimulated emission depletion; Saturated structured illumination microscopy; Stochastic optical reconstruction microscopy; Photo-activation localization microscopy; Bleaching/blinking-based super-resolution imaging