APPLICATION OF LASER SCANNING CONFOCAL MICROSCOPE IN FOSSIL SPORE-POLLEN OBSERVATION

A preliminary observation of some spore-pollen fossils has been made using Laser Scanning Confocal Microscope (LSCM). Some quite new features about the texture and ultrastructure of pollen have been detected for the first time, which opens up a new application of this advanced technique to microfossil study. After the successful observation of fossil pollen, the LSCM in the application of fossil study can be outlined as follows:1) The most pollen and autofluorescene fossils shine blue (488nm), yellow (568nm) or red lights (647nm) under the fluorescence microscope. According to the Fluorophore excitation/emission maxima spectrum, the argon ion will be the most effective one to excite the fossil samples. 2) To observe the internal structure of fossil pollen without destroying the specimens themselves. The LSCM could make a series of virtually optical sections with higher resolution than conventional light microscope. 3) To reconstruct the 3-D image after sequencing continuous optical sections to the fossils, which allows the researcher to view much detailed 3-D stretch and changes of certain structure in both internal and external views.

Project Supported:

Clc Number:

Q913.84 TH742.64